Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho: Hornblower is not really a coming of age story

Andreas Metzler writes:

Most of the historical seafaring adventures I took a look at are the likes of CS Forester's Hornblower saga: "Bland, usually depressed teenage hero rises from midshipman to admiral." The main target audience are teenage boys, the story is driven by professional success and coming of age problems.

I can't talk of the other offerings, but Forester's Hornblower hardly fits that description. The first Hornblower story ever published was A Happy Return (also known as Beat to Quarters), in which Hornblower was a junior Post Captain in an independent mission with a frigate and, if I remember correctly, in his forties; the next published novels follow Hornblower the Post Captain to a ship of the line (A Ship of the Line) and in his escape from captivity immediately following the events of that book (Flying Colours); after a pause, the next published novels were The Commodore, and then Lord Hornblower, which follow the junior flag officer Hornblower.

Forester is on the record for stating that all of these novels were created from the story elements first, and they became Hornblower stories because he fit the requirements of the story. Only after these does Forester start to fill in the early career of Hornblower in Mr. Midshipman Horblower, Lieutentant Hornblower and Hornblower and the Atropos. He then tells of Hornblower's last command in Hornblower in the West Indies. The last two books, Hornblower and the Hotspur and Hornblower and the Crisis (posthumously published, containing an unfinished novel and some short stories) patch the hole between Lieutenant Hornblower and Hornblower and the Atropos.

Many people recommend starting reading Hornblower stories from A Happy Return and following the publication order until Lord Hornblower, and then reading the rest in story-chronological order. I would, too (unless you are a young teen, like I was when I started - in which case Mr. Midshipman is the only book I'd recommend - I myself read the rest only in my adulthood).

The Hornblower stories are not character-intensive, and that's how I like them. I tried reading Patrick O'Brian's books, but eventually ended up throwing them against the wall. "Good" characterization is not what caused that, though; I'm reading Honor Harrington, which shines in complex characterization, with equal energy to with which I read the Hornblowers a year ago. It's just that the O'Brian books I tried to read were dull.

2005-08-02T11:45+0300 - /en/stuff

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