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Patrick O'Brian

Born

in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, England, The United Kingdom

December 12, 1914

Died

January 02, 2000

Genre

Historical Fiction, Fiction

Influences

Walter Scott ...more

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Patrick O'Brian was an English novelist and translator whose reputation rests above all on the Aubrey-Maturin novels, a twenty-volume sequence set during the Napoleonic Wars. The books follow Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and Stephen Maturin, his friend and ship's surgeon, whose Irish-Catalan background and scientific interests complement Aubrey's practical naval outlook. Beginning with Master and Commander, the series combines historical events with fictional adventures, preserving the outcome of real history while placing its protagonists within the action. O'Brian's command of period language, naval terminology, medical detail, and maritime practice gives the novels a convincing sense of nineteenth-century life, while their humor Patrick O'Brian was an English novelist and translator whose reputation rests above all on the Aubrey-Maturin novels, a twenty-volume sequence set during the Napoleonic Wars. The books follow Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and Stephen Maturin, his friend and ship's surgeon, whose Irish-Catalan background and scientific interests complement Aubrey's practical naval outlook. Beginning with Master and Commander, the series combines historical events with fictional adventures, preserving the outcome of real history while placing its protagonists within the action. O'Brian's command of period language, naval terminology, medical detail, and maritime practice gives the novels a convincing sense of nineteenth-century life, while their humor and the evolving relationship between Aubrey and Maturin provide their emotional center. The series became a long-form narrative in which professional duties and private lives develop continuously across successive voyages. O'Brian's literary career began remarkably early. Writing as Richard Patrick Russ, he published his first novel, Caesar: The Life Story of a Panda-Leopard, as a teenager, followed by animal stories collected in Beasts Royal. His novel Hussein: An Entertainment appeared in 1938 and received critical attention. After the Second World War, he adopted the name Patrick O'Brian and continued publishing fiction, including The Last Pool, Testimonies, and The Catalans. His early naval novels for younger readers, The Golden Ocean and The Unknown Shore, already contained elements that anticipated Aubrey and Maturin. He also became a translator from French, producing more than thirty English translations, including works by Simone de Beauvoir, Henri Charriere, and Jean Lacouture. His nonfiction included biographies of the naturalist Joseph Banks and the painter Pablo Picasso, whom he knew in Collioure, France. O'Brian lived in Wales after the war before moving with his wife Mary to Collioure in 1949. Their collaboration was important to his working life, with Mary assisting him in research and preparing his handwritten manuscripts for publication. O'Brian wrote by hand throughout his career and resisted modern writing technology. His literary breakthrough came unusually late. Although the Aubrey-Maturin books had a modest British following after their first appearance, their American revival in the early 1990s, led by W. W. Norton, brought sales and recognition. The novels eventually sold millions of copies and attracted devoted readers well beyond the age group normally associated with historical adventure fiction. O'Brian received the inaugural Heywood Hill Literary Prize in 1995, an honorary doctorate from Trinity College Dublin, and a CBE in 1997. His reputation was complicated when British media revealed details of his early identity and first marriage, matters he had kept private. Despite the controversy, his fiction remained central to his legacy. His unfinished twenty-first Aubrey-Maturin novel was published posthumously, preserving both handwritten pages and typescript. His manuscripts, notes, and research materials have since become part of major literary collections. His influence is also reflected in the continued readership of the novels and the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, which drew primarily from The Far Side of the World while incorporating material from elsewhere in the series.
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Combine Editions
Patrick O'Brian’s books

Average rating: 4.29 · 393,487 ratings · 23,006 reviews · 195 distinct works • Similar authors

	Master and Commander (Aubrey & Maturin, #1) 4.06 avg rating — 65,900 ratings — published 1969 — 205 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Post Captain (Aubrey & Maturin, #2) 4.26 avg rating — 26,266 ratings — published 1972 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	H.M.S. Surprise (Aubrey & Maturin, #3) 4.42 avg rating — 22,277 ratings — published 1973 — 153 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mauritius Command (Aubrey & Maturin, #4) 4.35 avg rating — 19,145 ratings — published 1977 — 129 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Desolation Island (Aubrey & Maturin, #5) 4.41 avg rating — 16,981 ratings — published 1978 — 118 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Fortune of War (Aubrey & Maturin, #6) 4.41 avg rating — 15,719 ratings — published 1979 — 105 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Surgeon's Mate (Aubrey & Maturin, #7) 4.40 avg rating — 14,668 ratings — published 1980 — 98 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Far Side of the World (Aubrey & Maturin, #10) 4.45 avg rating — 14,158 ratings — published 1984 — 115 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Treason's Harbour (Aubrey & Maturin, #9) 4.39 avg rating — 13,108 ratings — published 1983 — 101 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Letter of Marque (Aubrey & Maturin, #12) 4.50 avg rating — 12,387 ratings — published 1988 — 89 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Patrick O'Brian…

Series by Patrick O'Brian

Aubrey & Maturin (22 books)
by

Patrick O'Brian

4.32 avg rating — 329,128 ratings

Golden Ocean (2 books)
by

Patrick O'Brian

4.14 avg rating — 4,195 ratings

Quotes by Patrick O'Brian (?)

“Wit is the unexpected copulation of ideas.”
― Patrick O'Brian, The Hundred Days

tags: dr-maturin, patrick-o-brian

1050 likes

“But you know as well as I, patriotism is a word; and one that generally comes to mean either my country, right or wrong, which is infamous, or my country is always right, which is imbecile.”
― Patrick O'Brian, Master & Commander

tags: jingoism, maturin, nationalism, nationality, patriotism, stephen-maturin

227 likes

“Jack, you've debauched my sloth.”
― Patrick O'Brian, H.M.S. Surprise

tags: debauched, drunk, sloth

95 likes

See all Patrick O'Brian's quotes »

Polls

June 2017 New School Classic Poll

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, 351 pgs, 1905

48 votes, 15.0%

The Color Purple by Alice Walker, 295 pgs, 1982

43 votes, 13.4%

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, 218 pgs, 1996

42 votes, 13.1%

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, 471 pgs, 1940

24 votes, 7.5%

My Ántonia by Willa Cather, 232 pgs, 1918

22 votes, 6.9%

The Godfather by Mario Puzo, 448, 1969

19 votes, 5.9%

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, 304 pgs, 1969

16 votes, 5.0%

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin, 308 pgs, 1967

15 votes, 4.7%

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, 231 pgs, 1939

13 votes, 4.0%

Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence, 654 pgs, 1913

13 votes, 4.0%

Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian, 459 pgs, 1969

12 votes, 3.7%

Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis, 335 pgs, 1946

11 votes, 3.4%

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck, 418 pgs, 1931

10 votes, 3.1%

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute, 359 pgs, 1950

10 votes, 3.1%

The Master of Go by Yasunari Kawabata, 189 pgs, 1954

8 votes, 2.5%

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, 224 pgs, 1989

7 votes, 2.2%

Titanic by Filson Young, 236 pgs, 1912

5 votes, 1.6%

The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau, 320 pgs, 1964

3 votes, 0.9%

321 total votes

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Patrick O'Brian’s Followers (2,512)

Patrick O'Brian

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Patrick O'Brian’s books