Fictionalized Autobiography

[sartorias]

Jack Aubrey, Charles Babbage, writerly duels . . . Ferderick Marryat, the zap of verisimilitude and the fickleness of fame.

Comments

Re: "Does this knowledge make the book seem more real in a significant way?"

[sartorias]

I can get that zing of the real if the details hit me right. But I cannot tell if the author experienced what he or she writes about unless an error is made. Afterward, if I find out the experience was real, I get kind of an afterglow layer of pleasure. And it's there if I reread the piece.

Re: "Does this knowledge make the book seem more real in a significant way?"

[sartorias]

Might have been. I do remember portions of LOTR lighting up all over on a reread after I had been reading deeply into WW I. That jet of realism--of experience--intensified the read profoundly. And made the ending all the more poignant. Especially Faramir's words!

[negothick]

I'm astounded by that friendship with Babbage. Hmmm. . .sounds like a steampunk scenario--did Captain Marryat ever command a steamship?

[sartorias]

No--he died before they became regular things. I think he might have been on one once, though.

[negothick]

So a sidewise step as so many of these stories have would put a Difference Engine on board an (earlier-advent) steamship for Captain M. to command.

[sartorias]

Definitely--he loved science, after all.

[negothick]

Also, this year I gave a paper at ICFA about Robinson Crusoe and the Robinsonades, of which Marryat's Masterman Ready was an influential example. His "Boy Crusoes" are constantly being saved by the faithful able seaman of the title, who eventually becomes a kind of Admirable Crichton, ruling the castaways.

[sartorias]

Oh, yes, good point!