An edition of Patrick O'Brian (2000)

Patrick O'Brian

a life revealed

1st ed.
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August 15, 2020 | History
An edition of Patrick O'Brian (2000)

Patrick O'Brian

a life revealed

1st ed.
  • 0 Ratings
  • 1 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 0 Have read

In 1991, when The New York Times Book Review proclaimed Patrick O'Brian the writer of "the greatest historical novels ever written," making him an overnight sensation in the United States, O'Brian was already in his mid-70s and had already had two distinct and remarkable writing careers. In less than a decade, O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series, ultimately 20 novels strong, became an unprecedented literary juggernaut, with legions of devoted fans around America and around the world. With O'Brian's death in January 2000, curiosity about the carefully guarded secrets of his life has peaked. Here, Dean King tells the story of a man, an artist and an intellectual, born Richard Patrick Russ, who first achieves literary recognition as an adolescent, when he publishes a series of popular adventure stories. After the Second World War, he emerges as Patrick O'Brian, a writer of dark, sometimes tortured short stories and highly literary novels. He enjoys success as a translator, even as a biographer. Slowly, the O'Brian persona, forged in his own imagination and refined by years of rumor and speculation, takes form, until his ultimate triumphant arrival as a masterful historical novelist and chronicler of the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars. O'Brian's past -- both real and imagined -- is linked directly to his writing, as he drew deeply on the painful events of his early life. It has long been assumed that he himself was the model for the polymathic naval surgeon and intelligence agent Stephen Maturin, who, along with rough-and-tumble Captain Jack Aubrey, forms the heart of O'Brian's monumental roman-fleuve. The truth is more complex: each of these indelible characters is wholly original, yet in each we can hear deep echoes of O'Brian's own history. King's biography, the first ever of this famously secretive man, is an extraordinary achievement, a vivid, searing portrait of an intense and complex human being, whose grudges were as fiercely held as his loyalties; who was as famous for orneriness as he was for brilliant artistic creation; and whose encyclopedic knowledge of everything from ornithology to Catalan history delighted hundreds of thousands of readers and will surely enthrall generations to come. - Jacket flap.

Publish Date
Publisher
Henry Holt & Co.
Language
English
Pages
397

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Patrick O'brian
Patrick O'brian: A Life
February 2004, Diane Pub Co
Paperback in English
Cover of: Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian
March 1, 2001, Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Paperback - New Ed edition
Cover of: Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian : A Life
March 2000, Owl Books, Holt Paperbacks
Paperback in English
Cover of: Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian: a life revealed
2000, Henry Holt & Co.
Hardcover in English - 1st ed.
Cover of: Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian: a life revealed
2000, Hodder & Stoughton
in English

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Book Details


Published in

New York

Table of Contents

Introduction
Prologue : London, July 1945
Part one : Green.
A top hat, a clean collar, and clean boots, 1850-1900
Walden, 1914-1922
The pen mightier than the pain, 1923-1930
Part two : Red.
Beasts royal, 1930-1934
Darwinian pursuits, 1934-1939
Blood, sweat, toil, and tears, 1940-1943
An Irishman is born, 1943-1946
Part three : Slate.
The last approach to the mansion of Pluto, 1946-1947
Moelwyn Bank, 1948-1949
Part four : Azure.
The last stronghold of poets and painters, 1949-1953
The Catalans, 1953-1955
Voyaging with Commodore Anson, 1955-1959
Temple and Beauvoir, 1960-1966
Master and Commander, 1967-1969
An epic is launched, 1970-1973
Becoming Picasso, 1973-1976
Part five : Deep blue.
At sea again, 1976-1978
Writing with stunsails aloft and alow, 1978-1984
Singing of Sir Joseph, 1985-1986
Sailing in the trade winds, 1987-1990
Part six : Gold.
The best writer you never heard of? 1990-1992
The wages of fame, 1993-1994
The Commodore's second triumphal tour, 1995-1996
A night of honor, October 11, 1996
Epilogue

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. [367]-375) and index.

Genre
Biography.

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
823/.912, B
Library of Congress
PR6029.B55 Z736 2000, PR6029.B55Z736 2000

The Physical Object

Format
Hardcover
Pagination
xviii, 397 p., [16] p. of plates
Number of pages
397
Dimensions
25 x x centimeters

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL47816M
ISBN 10
0805059768
ISBN 13
9780805059762
LCCN
99048495
Library Thing
14751
Goodreads
1349266

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History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
August 15, 2020 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
February 13, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot remove fake subjects
July 22, 2017 Edited by Mek adding subject: In library
May 9, 2017 Edited by Bryan Tyson Edited without comment.
October 16, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page