Patrick O'Brian
De Viquipèdia
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Patrick O'Brian (nom real Richard Patrick Russ) (12 de desembre 1914 – 2 de gener 2000), novel·lista i traductor anglès. Conegut principalment per la sèrie de novel·les d'Aubrey-Maturin, ambientades en l'Armada Reial anglesa durant les Guerres Napoleòniques, i centrades en l'amistat del Capità Jack Aubrey i el metge irlandès-català Stephen Maturin. La sèrie consta de 20 novel·les i destaca pel gran treball d'investigació fet, pel detallat retrat de la vida del segle XIX i pel llenguatge evocador utilitzat. L'autor va deixar parcialment acabada la 21ena novel·la de la sèrie, que es va publicar pòstumament.
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[edita] Biografia
Fins el 1998 era creencia comuna en cercles literaris que O'Brian havia nascut a Irlanda, degut al seu pseudònim irlandès, pero en aquest any un periodistes britànics va descobrir que en realitat era de Chalfont St Peter, un poble del contat de Buckinghamshire, al sud-est d'Anglaterra, fill d'un metge d'origen alemany i mare anglesa. Patrick O'Brian va destacar per una personalitat complexa i enigmàtica.
El 1949 es va casar amb Mary Tolstoy, que s'acabava de divorcia del Conte Dmitri Tolstoy. Alguns han especulat que la seva dona va jugar un paper important en les seves novel·les, tot influint en el seu l'estil i contigut. A més es creu que ella revisava i mecanografiava les novel·les, ja que O'Brian acostumava a escriure a mà.
[edita] Literary career
O'Brian published several novels and stories under his original name, Richard Patrick Russ, notably, Caesar and Hussein: an Entertainment, which were both published before he was 21. Richard Patrick Russ legally changed his name to Patrick O'Brian in 1945. This was a bold stroke in many ways, not least because O'Brian necessarily had to abandon the reputation for quality writing he had already built up under the name Russ.
In the 1950s O'Brian wrote two books aimed at a younger age-group, The Golden Ocean and The Unknown Shore, which were based on events of the Anson circumnavigation of 1740–1743. Although written many years before the Aubrey–Maturin series series, the literary antecedents of Aubrey and Maturin can be clearly seen in the characters of Jack Byron and Tobias Barrow.
As well as his historical novels, O'Brian wrote several mainstream novels and a body of short stories, and was a respected translator, responsible for the translation of Henri Charrière's Papillon into English, Jean Lacouture's biography of Charles de Gaulle, as well as many of Simone de Beauvoir's later works.
O'Brian also wrote a detailed biography of Sir Joseph Banks, one of the leading scientific figures of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and the man largely responsible for the colonization of Australia.
O'Brian's biography of Pablo Picasso, Pablo Ruiz Picasso: A Biography, is a massive and comprehensive study of the artist. Picasso lived for a time in Collioure, the same French village as O'Brian, and the two came to be 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 in the film.
Some people have speculated that O'Brian's wife, Mary, played an important part in the shaping, style and content of the novels. O'Brian wrote the novels in longhand and she is believed to have reviewed and typed them out for the publisher. He testified to the importance of her role, and its significance appears to be demonstrated in the novels written after she became ill and died, 'The Hundred Days', is noticeably thinner and less rich than the earlier books even though it was completed before her actual death.
See also: Aubrey-Maturin series
[edita] Trivia
In 2003 a nondescript species of Costa Rican palm weevil was described and named Daisya obriani after Patrick O'Brian by Dr Robert S. Anderson of the Canadian Museum of Nature.
[edita] Original Manuscripts
O'Brian wrote virtually all the novels by hand, shunning both typewriter and word processor. The original, handwritten manuscripts for nineteen of the Aubrey-Maturin novels have been acquired by a single US educational institution. Only one remains in private hands.
[edita] Biographies of O'Brian
Since his death, there have been two biographies published, though the first was well advanced when he died. The second is the first volume of a planned two volume biography by O'Brian's stepson.
- Dean King (2001). Patrick O'Brian - A life revealed. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. ISBN 0-340-79256-6.
- Dean King (2001). In Search of Patrick O'Brian. Holt (Henry) & Co ,U.S.. ISBN 0-8050-5977-6. (US edition of the above book)
- Nikolai Tolstoy (2004). Patrick O'Brian: The Making of the Novelist. Century. ISBN 0-7126-7025-4.
- Nikolai Tolstoy (2005). Patrick O'Brian: The Making of the Novelist 1914-1949. W W Norton & Co Ltd. ISBN 0-393-06130-2. (US edition of the above book)
Also of importance when studying O'Brian:
- A.E. Cunningham (Editor) (1994). Patrick O'Brian: Critical appreciations and a bibliography. British Library. ISBN 0-7123-1071-1.
[edita] Bibliography
[edita] The Aubrey–Maturin series
- Article principal: Aubrey–Maturin series
- Master and Commander (1970)
- Post Captain (1972)
- HMS Surprise (1973)
- The Mauritius Command (1977)
- Desolation Island (1978)
- The Fortune of War (1979)
- The Surgeon's Mate (1980)
- The Ionian Mission (1981)
- Treason's Harbour (1983)
- The Far Side of the World (1984)
- The Reverse of the Medal (1986)
- The Letter of Marque (1988)
- The Thirteen-Gun Salute (1989)
- The Nutmeg of Consolation (1991)
- Clarissa Oakes (1993)
(The Truelove in the USA) - The Wine-Dark Sea (1993)
- The Commodore (1995)
- The Yellow Admiral (1996)
- The Hundred Days (1998)
- Blue at the Mizzen (1999)
- The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey (2004)
(21 in the USA)
[edita] Fiction (non-serial)
- Caesar (1930, his first book, which led him to be often labelled by critics as the 'boy-Thoreau')
- Hussein (1938)
- Testimonies (1952)
- The Catalans (1954)
- The Golden Ocean (1956)
- The Unknown Shore (1959)
- Richard Temple (1962)
- The Rendezvous and other stories
[edita] Non-fiction
- Men-of-War: Life in Nelson's Navy (1974). ISBN 0-393-03858-0
- Picasso (1976; originally titled Pablo Ruiz Picasso). ISBN 0-00-717357-1
- Joseph Banks: A Life (1987) The Harvill Press, London. Paperback reprint, 1989. ISBN 1-86046-406-8
[edita] Vegeu també
- Lord Cochrane "the sea wolf" (1775-1860)
[edita] Enllaços externs
- A Gunroom guide to Patrick O'Brian Web Resources - comprehensive annotated link list
- Patrick O'Brian - a compilation of books in print mainly in English, German and French.
- Patrick O'Brian Home Page - introduction to the author and his books, by his US publisher.
- Patrick O'Brian Mapping Project - A Google Maps mashup project to map all 21 books in the Aubrey–Maturin series.
