Master and Commander: Patrick O’Brian: Book 1 (Aubrey-Maturin)

Product Information

UPDATE 2/4/2011 I am now on The Wine Dark Sea" , number 16, and only have six books left in this 21 book series, and I am already starting to grieve. Roger Ebert gave the film 4 stars out of 4, saying that "it achieves the epic without losing sight of the human". [18] The Guardian 's Peter Bradshaw praised the film and Crowe's performance. [32] New York Times critic A. O. Scott described the film as "stupendously entertaining". [33] However, Jason Epstein, also writing for The New York Times, criticized the film, taking issue with changes from the novel, Crowe's "one-dimensional action hero", and implausible events in the script. [14] Griffith, Nicola (1 December 2013). "A Skeptic Is Swept Away by the Bromance-At-Sea In 'Master' ". NPR Books . Retrieved 1 March 2017.

Golden, Gerald (2005). "The Physician at the Movies: Master and Commander". The Pharos. Alpha Omega Alpha-Honor Medical Society. 68 (1): 51. PMID 15792082.Tibbetts, John C.; Welsh, James M., eds. (2005). "The Far Side of the World (Master and Commander)". The Encyclopedia of Novels Into Film (Seconded.). Facts on File. pp.127–129. ISBN 978-0816054497. Master and Commander was first published in 1969, in the US by Lippincott, and in Great Britain and Ireland by Collins in 1970. The series continued to be a modest success in both countries, though publication was only by Collins in the UK after the fourth novel. Publication in the US ceased with Desolation Island in 1978. [19] [20] However, in 1989 Starling Lawrence of W. W. Norton discovered the novels on a plane flight between London and New York. [21] W. W. Norton began printing the books, and they were taken more seriously by critics and became a publishing success. O'Brian's series of novels sold over 400,000 copies in the next two years and continued to be a success, selling over 2 million copies by 2000. [1] In its review of the last unfinished novel in 2004, Publishers Weekly reported that the series had sold over 6 million copies. [22] W. W. Norton released the novels in e-book format on 5 December 2011. [23] The full series has been published in German, French and Italian translations, the twenty finished books also in Spanish, and part of the series in Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Finnish, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish and Russian translation. [24] Literary significance and criticism [ edit ] According to Richard Snow in 2004, the first meeting between Aubrey and Maturin (with which the novel opens) led to "the greatest friendship of modern literature". Snow quotes Fredric Smoler, professor of history and literature, in a Shakespearean comparison: "It's like Prince Hal meeting Falstaff". [38]

Reynaud, Daniel (2017). "Authenticating the Imaginary: Cloaking with history the characters of O'Brian's fiction and Weir's film" (PDF). Journal of History and Cultures. 7: 1–9. ISSN 2051-221X. Christopher Hitchens gave a mixed review: "Any cinematic adaptation of O'Brian must stand or fall by its success in representing this figure [Dr. Stephen Maturin]. On this the film doesn't even fall, let alone stand. It skips the whole project." (The film omits completely the fact that the doctor and naturalist is also a spy for England—a key plot element in the novels.) Hitchens nonetheless praised the action scenes, writing: "In one respect the action lives up to its fictional and actual inspiration. This was the age of Bligh and Cook and of voyages of discovery as well as conquest, and when HMS Surprise makes landfall in the Galapagos Islands we get a beautifully filmed sequence about how the dawn of scientific enlightenment might have felt." [34] It's a point in O'Brian's favor, then, that he managed to stay true to his own clear passion for period lingo and arcane knowledge, without ever losing my attention. It's possible to get this balance wrong. I've read a few novels by Tom Clancy, and his tediously detailed accounts of weaponry and military equipment stop narrative momentum cold. With Master And Commander, I never felt as though the slang and the story were separate. Both seemed reliant on the other, and I could appreciate the relationship, even if I didn't always grasp the particulars. (I'll admit it, I couldn't accurately describe any of the sea battles that take place in the book, but that's as much my poor grasp of spatial relationships as anything else.) Guide for the Perplexed by A G Brown. Translations into English of foreign phrases within the novels. a b c d "Box Office History". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on May 14, 2019 . Retrieved January 30, 2009.

Scott, A.O. (November 14, 2003). "Film Review; Master Of the Sea (And the French)". The New York Times . Retrieved August 23, 2022. James, William I (1837). The Naval History of Great Britain from the Declaration of War by France in 1793 to the Accession of George IV. Vol.4 (Newed.). Bentley. pp.132–133. Archived from the original on February 18, 2021 . Retrieved November 30, 2016.