"Top Ten Seafaring Tales"
The Guardian has an article today on Top Ten Seafaring Tales as chosen by Danish author Carsten Jensen.
Given that men have sailed the seas for thousands of years, it's perhaps surprising how few great works of literature have been inspired by the seafaring life. Sailing may have promised adventure, but in reality it was a dangerous profession that attracted only the toughest, few of whom were equipped with a talent for writing. Their yarns remained fixed in the oral tradition, and in general, writers directed their attention elsewhere. But the exceptions are majestic.
Sadly Jensen clearly does not regard Forester as exceptional as he is not included in the list. Boooo! However his top ten is still entertaining to read. I particularly liked his sarcastic analysis of Odysseus seamanship and his summary of The Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo:
There's a great underwater scene in which a man fights a giant octopus armed with only a knife. And all this happened before Freud, so the sea could carry all the freight of the subconscious without waving symbolism in anyone's face.
Given that men have sailed the seas for thousands of years, it's perhaps surprising how few great works of literature have been inspired by the seafaring life. Sailing may have promised adventure, but in reality it was a dangerous profession that attracted only the toughest, few of whom were equipped with a talent for writing. Their yarns remained fixed in the oral tradition, and in general, writers directed their attention elsewhere. But the exceptions are majestic.
Sadly Jensen clearly does not regard Forester as exceptional as he is not included in the list. Boooo! However his top ten is still entertaining to read. I particularly liked his sarcastic analysis of Odysseus seamanship and his summary of The Toilers of the Sea by Victor Hugo:
There's a great underwater scene in which a man fights a giant octopus armed with only a knife. And all this happened before Freud, so the sea could carry all the freight of the subconscious without waving symbolism in anyone's face.