Aubrey and Maturin, though very different, also share in common a high degree of physical and moral courage, a firm interest in women, and a love of music; both are competent amateur musicians. All this, of course, with much more. Suffice it to say, as friends and shipmates, the two are more than the sum of their parts.
Their friendship is, in fact, the most appealing and interesting I know of in literature. Most fictional friendships are simply declared by the author. Damon and Pythias, Athos and D’Artagnan, Huck Finn and Nigger Jim are all wonderful characters, but their friendships are not significantly explored. Even that famous pair, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, which I have experienced as an actor, do very little as friends beyond pursuing Conan Doyle’s plots together. With Aubrey and Maturin, the readers come to understand and cherish their friendship perhaps as much as they do themselves.
The wonder is that it has taken so long for O’Brian’s talents to be adequately recognised. Happily, I think that is now happening. He is more than a merely popular writer. He is a very, very fine one.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Arms and the Man
H.M.S. Surprise Page 39