Editing Patrick O'Brian (section)

==Literary career==

===As Patrick Russ===
O'Brian published two novels, a collection of stories and several uncollected stories under his original name, Richard Patrick Russ. His first novel, ''Caesar: The Life Story of a Panda-Leopard'', was written at the age of 12 and published three years later in 1930. It was a critical success, with a recommendation in the ''[[New Statesman]]'' and positive reviews in publications including the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' and the ''[[Saturday Review of Literature]]''.<ref name=kinglrev/>{{rp|50}} Other stories followed, published in boys' magazines and [[Annual publication#British annuals|annuals]] and incorporating themes of natural history and adventure, and a collection of these and other animal stories was published in 1934 under the title ''Beasts Royal'', with illustrations by the noted artist [[Charles Tunnicliffe]], illustrator of ''[[Tarka the Otter]]''.

''Hussein: An entertainment'', set in [[India]], was published in 1938, when O'Brian was 23. It was notable for being the first book of contemporary fiction ever published by the [[Oxford University Press]],<ref name=kinglrev/>{{rp|75}} to whose annuals for boys he had been a regular contributor for some years. O'Brian published very little under his original name of Russ during World War II, and nothing after 1940. His change of surname in 1945 necessarily meant abandoning the literary reputation he had built up as R P Russ.

===As Patrick O'Brian===
O'Brian returned to writing after the war when he moved to rural Wales. His non-fiction anthology ''A Book of Voyages'' (1947) attracted little attention. A collection of short stories, ''[[The Last Pool and Other Stories|The Last Pool]]'', was published in 1950 and was more widely and favourably reviewed, although sales were low.<ref name=kinglrev/>{{rp|151–151}} The countryside and people around his village in Wales provided inspiration for many of his short stories of the period, and also his novel ''[[Testimonies (novel)|Testimonies]]'' (1952), which is set in a thinly disguised Cwm Croesor, and which was well received by [[Delmore Schwartz]] in ''[[Partisan Review]]'' in 1952.<ref name=Veale /><ref name=Horowitz /> His next novel was ''The Catalans'', published in 1953. The review in ''The New York Times'' noted O'Brian's accomplishments in ''Testimonies''; ''The Catalans'' was viewed as a series of well-written scenes by an observant author, but the reviewer did not think it held together as a novel.<ref>{{cite news |title=Books of The Times |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |last=Prescott |first=Orville |author-link=Orville Prescott |date=1 January 1954 |access-date=20 February 2019 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1954/01/01/83743731.html?pageNumber=21 |page=21 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In the 1950s, O'Brian wrote three books aimed at a younger age group, ''[[The Road to Samarcand]]'', ''[[The Golden Ocean]]'', and ''[[The Unknown Shore]]''. Although written many years before the [[Aubrey–Maturin series]], the two naval novels reveal literary antecedents of [[Jack Aubrey|Aubrey]] and [[Stephen Maturin|Maturin]]. In ''The Golden Ocean'' and ''The Unknown Shore'', based on events of [[George Anson's voyage around the world]] from 1740 to 1744, they can be clearly seen in the characters of Jack Byron and Tobias Barrow in the latter novel.<ref name=kinglrev/>{{rp|180}}

Over four decades he worked on his own writings, his British literary reputation growing slowly. He became an established translator of French works into English. His early novels and several of the translations were published by [[Publications by Rupert Hart-Davis|Rupert Hart-Davis]] from 1953 to 1974. O'Brian wrote the first of the [[Aubrey–Maturin series]] in 1969 at the suggestion of American publisher [[J. B. Lippincott & Co.|J B Lippincott]], following the 1966 death of [[C. S. Forester]], a writer of popular nautical novels.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Patrick O'Brian: a life revealed |last=King |first=Dean |publisher=H Holt |year=2000 |isbn=0805059768 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=192–200 |oclc=42437180}}</ref> The Aubrey–Maturin books were quietly popular in Britain; after the first four volumes, they were not published in the United States.

In the early 1990s, the series was successfully relaunched into the American market by the interest of Starling Lawrence of W. W. Norton publishers,<ref name=Horowitz>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/18/specials/obrian-comesin.html |title=Patrick O'Brian's Ship Comes In |last=Horowitz |first=Mark |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |department=Books |date=16 May 1993 |access-date=4 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/lawrence-steps-down-as-nortons-editor-in-chief/?_r=0 |title=Lawrence Steps Down as Norton's Editor in Chief |last=Bosman |first=Julie |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=30 June 2011 |access-date=4 June 2015}}</ref> attracting critical acclaim and dramatically increasing O'Brian's sales and public profile in the UK and America.<ref name=kinglrev/>{{rp|Ch.22–23}} Paul D. Colford notes that when O'Brian "visited the United States a few weeks ago [in December 1993], fans waiting to meet, lunch and have tea with him included [[Walter Cronkite]], Sen. [[Dirk Kempthorne]] (R-Idaho) and Supreme Court Justice [[Anthony Kennedy]], who invited O'Brian to attend a session of the high court. Hollywood also wants a piece of the press-shy storyteller."<ref name=Colford>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-06-vw-8805-story.html |title=The Tide Is Changing for an Obscure Novelist |date=6 January 1994 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |last=Colford |first=Paul D |access-date=16 March 2015}}</ref>

The novels sold over three million copies in 20 languages.<ref name=Veale /> In its review of ''[[The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey|21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey]]'' (published in 2004), ''Publishers Weekly'' said that over six million copies had been sold.<ref name=PW>{{cite web |url=http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/21-patrick-obrian/1103810573?ean=9780393344141 |date=October 2004 |title=21: The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey |work=Editorial Reviews |publisher=Publishers Weekly |access-date=31 March 2015}}</ref> Thus O'Brian's greatest success in writing, gaining him fame, a following, and invitations to events and interviews came late in his life, when he was well into his seventies and accustomed to his privacy.<ref name=Veale />

Shortly before his last completed novel was published in October 1999, O'Brian wrote an article for a series of the best in the millennium ending, titled "Full Nelson", choosing for his topic [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Admiral Nelson's]] victory in the [[Battle of the Nile]] in 1798.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/millennium/m1/obrian.html |last=O'Brian |first=Patrick |title=BEST NAVAL BATTLE – Full Nelson: Outmanned and outgunned, the British flummoxed the French |newspaper=[[The New York Times Magazine]] |department=Best in 1,000 Years |year=1999 |quote=It was a famous victory: it shattered Bonaparte's scheme in Egypt and India; it had great political influence in Europe; it was splendidly rewarded, with medals, promotions and quantities of presents bestowed on those who fought, and it awakened the world to Lord Nelson's glory. |access-date=8 June 2015 }}</ref>

===Aubrey–Maturin series===
{{Main|Aubrey–Maturin series}}
Beginning in 1969, O'Brian began writing what turned into the 20-volume [[Aubrey–Maturin series]] of novels. The books are set in the early 19th century and describe the lives and careers of Captain [[Jack Aubrey]] of the Royal Navy and his friend, naval physician and naturalist Dr [[Stephen Maturin]], a man of Irish and Catalan parents. The books are distinguished by O'Brian's deliberate use and adaptation of actual historical events, either integrating his protagonists in the action without changing the outcome, or using adapted historical events as templates. In addition to this trait and to O'Brian's distinctive literary style, his sense of humour is prominent (see [[Aubrey–Maturin series#Humour|Humour]] in main article, ''Aubrey–Maturin series'').

The series employs technical sailing terminology throughout. Some critics consider the books a [[roman fleuve]], which can be read as one long story; the books follow Aubrey and Maturin's professional and domestic lives continuously.

===Other works===
As well as his [[historical novel]]s, O'Brian wrote three adult mainstream novels, six short-story collections, and a history of the Royal Navy aimed at young readers. He was also a respected translator, responsible for more than 30 translations from the French into English, including [[Henri Charrière]]'s ''[[Papillon (book)|Papillon]]'' (UK) and ''[[Banco (novel)|Banco: The further adventures of Papillon]]'', [[Jean Lacouture]]'s biography of [[Charles de Gaulle]], as well as many of [[Simone de Beauvoir]]'s later works.

O'Brian wrote detailed biographies of [[Joseph Banks|Sir Joseph Banks]], an English naturalist who took part in [[James Cook|Cook]]'s [[First voyage of James Cook|first voyage]] (and who appears briefly in O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series), and [[Pablo Picasso]]. His biography of Picasso is a massive and comprehensive study of the artist. Picasso and O'Brian both lived in the French village of [[Collioure]] and became acquainted there.

[[Peter Weir]]'s 2003 film, ''[[Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World]]'' is loosely based on the novel ''The Far Side of the World'' from the [[Aubrey–Maturin series]] for its plot, but draws on a number of the novels for incidents within the film. The character of Jack Aubrey is drawn from the character in the novels.

===Awards, honours and recognition===
In 1995 he was awarded the inaugural [[Heywood Hill Literary Prize]], in the amount of £10,000 for his lifetime's writings. In his acceptance speech in July 1995, O'Brian, then age 80, said it was the first literary prize of his adult life.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DsktwMvI3uAC&q=Heywood+Hill+Literary+Prize+1995&pg=PA355 |title=Patrick O'Brian: A Life |last=King |first=Dean |page=355 |year=2001 |publisher=Henry Holt and Co |location=New York |isbn=9780805059779 }}</ref> He received an [[honorary doctorate]] from [[Trinity College Dublin]], and a [[CBE]] on June 17, 1997.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n09/christopher-tayler/for-want-of-a-dinner-jacket|title=For Want of a Dinner Jacket |first=Christopher|last=Tayler |date=6 May 2021|volume=43|issue=9 |magazine=[[London Review of Books]] }}</ref><ref name=kinglrev/>

On 21–23 September 2001, the [[National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth]], organised a ''The Patrick O'Brian Weekend'' to celebrate O'Brian's achievement in depicting Nelson's Navy in his novels. The weekend featured lectures by some of Britain's leading naval historians on "how the novels closely reflect the insights of modern scholarship". There was a concert of contemporary music and readings from his books. The weekend concluded with a tour of Nelson's flagship [[HMS Victory|HMS ''Victory'']] followed by a dinner on her lower gundeck.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Other Conferences and Meetings |journal=Newsletter of the Society for Nautical Research |date=August 2001 |issue=43 |page=6}}</ref> The event was repeated one year later at the same venue.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Patrick O'Brian Weekend, 13–15 September 2002 |journal=Newsletter of the Society for Nautical Research |date=August 2002 |issue=47 |page=4}}</ref>