Thanks! Having read these books at a one a year pace and just finished "21", I am enjoying this commentary immensely. Love the stuff about changing naval culture and how Aubrey was sort of a "throwback" to an earlier era.
Here is a belated note responding to a point you made in a previous post. I forgot to send it then, but I’m taking the liberty of doing so now.
Regarding O’Brian’s brilliant mixture of reality and invention, I am reminded of the incident involving the goat in “Master and Commander.” I can very well believe that a sailor was punished severely for unnatural relations with livestock, but the brilliant description of how Dr. Maturin decided not to have any cream in his coffee could only come from the imagination of someone like Mr. O’Brian.
Footnote to your footnote 3: Cochrane also marginally helped the Greeks during their war of independence; don’t know if he crossed paths there with Byron the poet, but the man got around.
Thanks! Having read these books at a one a year pace and just finished "21", I am enjoying this commentary immensely. Love the stuff about changing naval culture and how Aubrey was sort of a "throwback" to an earlier era.
Here is a belated note responding to a point you made in a previous post. I forgot to send it then, but I’m taking the liberty of doing so now.
Regarding O’Brian’s brilliant mixture of reality and invention, I am reminded of the incident involving the goat in “Master and Commander.” I can very well believe that a sailor was punished severely for unnatural relations with livestock, but the brilliant description of how Dr. Maturin decided not to have any cream in his coffee could only come from the imagination of someone like Mr. O’Brian.
I hope you will forgive a bit of ethnocentrism.
Footnote to your footnote 3: Cochrane also marginally helped the Greeks during their war of independence; don’t know if he crossed paths there with Byron the poet, but the man got around.
Thanks for your note. He did get around! But they missed each other. Byron died in 1824 and Cochrane wasn’t hired until 1825.