Message-ID: <301@ahuta.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 2-Jan-85 08:06:13 EST
Article-I.D.: ahuta.301
Posted: Wed Jan 2 08:06:13 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 3-Jan-85 03:59:04 EST
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The Hornblower Series by C. S. Forester
A review of a series of books by Mark R. Leeper
Back in grad school one day I was sitting in an Advanced Probability
course watching a less than inspiring professor prove an inequality, neither
side of which made any sense to me. In such times my mind wanders, and this
time it somehow wandered to a film I had seen on TV some five years earlier.
The film was CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER with Gregory Peck. At that time
almost all my fiction reading was devoted to science fiction, but it
occurred to me that there might be a certain appeal to reading about British
navel warfare about the time of the Napoleanic Wars. Such, I guess, is the
power of cinema. When the lecture was over (as I remember, it was about 37
hours later), I rushed over to the library and picked up my first Hornblower
novel, BEAT TO QUARTERS.
Rather unexpectedly, I found a lot of what I like in good science
fiction in the Hornblower series. It takes place against a background that
makes one hungry to know more. C. S. Forester apparently knew a good deal
about maritime history, and there is a real spell-binding quality about his
attention to detail. Some of the things that were commonplace in the 17th
century we would consider appalling. For example, rather than just saying
that Hornblower ate a meal or even just describing the meal, he explains how
Hornblower taps the biscuits on the table to rid them of maggots, though
others seem to like the biscuits with the maggots still in them. Still,
Forester's descriptions form a consistent reality and leave the reader with
more to think about than most similarly light reading.
The self-doubting--often self-punishing--Hornblower grows from book to
book. He is something of a fool about his personal life, which he messes up
with a loveless marriage and a slavish effort to chase status, not because
he wants it, but because it is expected of him. At home he is an
uncomfortable and ungainly stranger; at sea, he transforms into an
incomparable leader of men and a brilliant tactician. At sea or on land he
has the same fears and doubts, which he covers as well as he can with a
self-assured front. But his nautical skills always stand him in better stead
at sea than his social skills do on land.
Forester wrote three consecutive novels BEAT TO QUARTERS (THE HAPPY
RETURN), SHIP OF THE LINE, and FLYING COLORS in 1937 and 1938. The first,
involving a megalomaniacal South American dictator, is the most immediately
enjoyable Hornblower novel. The film, incidentally, is based on the three
novels, though mostly on the first. He then waited until 1945 to continue
the exploits with COMMODORE HORNBLOWER, followed by LORD HORNBLOWER the next
year. He then wrote a number of short stories about Hornblower's very early
career (the best of which concerns a shipment of rice) collected in MR.
MIDSHIPMAN HORNBLOWER. He followed that with the direct sequels LIEUTENANT
HORNBLOWER and HORNBLOWER AND THE ATROPOS in 1952 and 1953. Then, in 1958,
he jumped to events after LORD HORNBLOWER with ADMIRAL HORNBLOWER IN THE
WEST INDIES. Forester's last novel about Hornblower was HORNBLOWER AND THE
HOTSPUR, written in 1962. Forester died while preparing HORNBLOWER DURING
THE CRISIS in 1967. As it stands, it contains two stories and part of a
third from various points in Hornblower's career. There are also YOUNG
HORNBLOWER, CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER, and THE INDOMITABLE HORNBLOWER--each
a collection of three Hornblower novels--and HORNBLOWER'S TRIUMPH--excerpted
incidents from two Hornblower novels.
Of some note to Hornblower readers are two books: THE HORNBLOWER
COMPANION contains charts of Hornblower's battles and personal notes by
Forester. C. Northcote Parkinson, best known for humorous essays like
"Parkinson's Law," wrote a complete biography of the character called THE
LIFE AND TIMES OF HORATIO HORNBLOWER. Also it should be noted that a number
of well-known fictional characters have been based on Hornblower, including
A. Bertram Chandler's Commander Grimes and Gene Roddenberry's Captain James
Kirk.
Internal Chronological Listing of Hornblower Stories
MR. MIDSHIPMAN HORNBLOWER
"Hornblower and the Widow McCool" (*)
LIEUTENANT HORNBLOWER
HORNBLOWER AND THE HOTSPUR
"Hornblower During the Crisis" (*)
HORNBLOWER AND THE ATROPOS
BEAT TO QUARTERS
SHIP OF THE LINE
FLYING COLOURS
COMMODORE HORNBLOWER
LORD HORNBLOWER
"The Point and the Edge" (+)
ADMIRAL HORNBLOWER IN THE WEST INDIES
"The Last Encounter" (*)
(*) Contained in HORNBLOWER DURING THE CRISIS
(+) Outlined in THE HORNBLOWER COMPANION
(Evelyn C. Leeper for)
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!lznv!mrl
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