Master And Commander
(Patrick O'Brian)
Before the movie - where Russel Crowe lent his
not unremarkable talent as an actor - was the book that, like so many
"from the book to the movie"-adaptions is so much better in its written
form. The autor Patrick O'Brian achieved in an artistic way to create
one of the best seafaring-stories. Master and Commander is the first
book in a series of offshore adventures that the heroes Captian Jack
Aubrey and his faithful companion Doctor Stephen Maturin experience.
The plot takes place during Nelsons' campaigns in early 19th century,
which - to be fair to the book itself - isn't exactly loaded with
swashbuckling innuendo. A relatively strict, cold and unfaltering
disciplinary codex of the Royal Navy was very popular and even
though Aubrey shows sympathy and humanity against his enemies and his
crew he still ends up as a product of an iron hard system that kept up
hierarchy and discipline among the crew members. They regularly showed
barely hidden disdain and a possible mutiny was never very far away.
Aubreys boldness and thirst for broadsidefights is only tempered by the
gentler and more thoughtful Doctor Maturin. While his existance in the
book is justified by his role as a full character who has to work on
his own devils and demons it is difficult not to view him as Aubreys
alter ego. Someone who offers a balanced opinion and reason during
times of war, when not too little of those exist. Master and Commander
draws a realistic picture of the life at sea in a time where
diseasescould be just as deadly as a rusty knife or canonballs. The
foul and rat-infested existance in the darkness and filth is only
opposed by the hasty hoisting of sails and tarting up. A round up novel
with a satisfying ending and the knowledge that there are more
adventures in wait for the avid reader.
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