| Title | : | Treasons Harbour (Aubrey Maturin, #9) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0393308634 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780393308631 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 368 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1983 |
Treasons Harbour (Aubrey Maturin, #9) Reviews
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Stationed on Malta during the later Napoleonic War, Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend, Dr. Stephen Maturin are embroiled in a Mediterranean intrigue that takes them to Egypt and the Red Sea.
While O'Brian is one of my favorite authors, this is not one of my favorite books of his. It's balance tilts in favor of intrigue over action. More time is devoted to matters of intelligence and spying, and even that lacks some of its usual excitement.
However, it has its redeeming qualities. There is, as always, beauty in the language. Reading any books of the series just for the descriptions alone is worth the effort. It's like a David Attenborough-narrated episode of Planet Earth, taking you to new lands and wowing you with the sights and sounds. Just gorgeous. The characters, whom you've probably come to know and love if you've reached this ninth book, are full of life and fully invested in their own lives, the very minutia of which is the book's bread and butter.
One of my favorite of the very minor characters, Awkward Davies (or Davis), appears more in this book than in most others. Davies is a dangerously powerful gorilla of a man, who has gladly attached himself to his captain after an episode in which Aubrey rescued him from drowning. Davies addition to any book is usually for the purposes of humor and/or when a meatheaded amount of a strength or stupid-courage is needed. His presence is regretted by Aubrey in a comedic sense. He's a nice foil for when O'Brian feels a need to lighten the mood:
"a fight broke out in the square below, a fight between Davis and the bear, which resented his familiarity in chucking it under the chin. ... Stephen hurried down to repair the bear."
This seafaring series is epic in just about every way, and so it can hardly be faulted for the occasional lag in full-throttle action. Instead, just sit back, relax and let O'Brian's beautiful words flow over you.
Rating: 3.5 stars
My review of book eight:
The Ionian Mission
My review of book ten:
The Far Side of the World -
Stephen's intrigues take center stage Treason's Harbor, which I personally like, since I find Maturin's spying just as interesting as Aubrey's naval battles, but I think it's a matter of taste. O'Brien's sense of humor is, as always, a delight--the scenes with the diving bell especially, made me laugh out loud.
I love this series so much. In a way, I don't care what happens in each book, it's just comforting being back with fictional friends, and experiencing the author's wonderful voice. -
'Don't you know how to seize a cuckold's neck, you God-damned lubber? Where's the bleeding seizing?'
Hi, I'm Algernon and I'm a landlubber. I will probably be the first one to go overboard in a storm because I don't have the foggiest what a cuckold's neck is and where the jib is supposed to be hoisted. I take solace from the fact that my situation is not much different from that of Dr. Stephen Maturin, who is similarly baffled on board ship, even after nine voyages in the company of his friend, Captain Jack Aubrey. The gleeful manner in which Patrick O'Brian fires these semantic broadsides across my bows (brows!) does nothing to diminish my enjoyment in the series. They're just adding spice to the trip and one more proof of the author's wicked sense of humour.
'What are bashed neeps?'
'Neeps hackit with balmagowry.'
O'Brian's sense of humour translates well from the sea to the shore, as in the above inquiry about the menu for a Scottish themed dinner, or in a leisurely debate about fundamental freedoms and smoking habits. (Maturin and his scientist friend Professor Graham take a libertarian approach to forbidding the bad habit on grounds of liberty of expression and of tobacco's alleged propensity to induce fanciful moods. A debate that echoes for me the current efforts to legalise pot). I am starting my review with these peaceful pursuits as a result of the bloody battles at the end of the Ionian Mission , battles that may have brought honour and monetary prizes to Jack Aubrey, but that also put both of the ships he sailed on, The Worcester and The Surprise , out of action and in need of extensive repairs in the port of Malta. What should have been a well-earned and hopefully brief vacation for the two friends, turns into an annoying and dangerous game of cat and mouse between Aubrey and the corrupt commisioners of the repair yards, and between Stephen and his French counterparts in the cloak-and-dagger business.
Despotic governement tends to breed spies and informers, and there were traces of at least three different Paris ministries at work in Malta, each in ignorance of the others, with a man from a fourth keeping watch on them all.
I already knew from previous episodes that Patrick O'Brian is equally adept at writing about sea battles and about landlubber activities, and the Malta episode is no exception. The violin of Captain Aubrey and the cello of Dr. Maturin speak just as eloquently as the twelve pounders aboard The Surprise . The musical duet becomes a trio with the addition of the tinkling piano notes from an alluring local lady, a Mrs. Laura Fielding of Italian origin and a British subject by marriage, whose husband is currently a prisoner of the French. The lady has more than a fair share of her own troubles, but she is still capable of throwing a spanner into the marital wovs of many a landlocked officer:
It was pleasant to see how the captains, some of them true tartars aboard, most of them thoroughly accustomed to battle, and all of them capable of assuming great responsibility, played the fool before a pretty woman. 'There is a capital book to be written on the human mating display in all its ludicrous variety,' observed Dr. Maturin.
Readers who prefer sailing to spy games or boudoir romances may consider Treason's Harbour one of the lesser books in the series, but a closer examination of the text points out that there are three naval expeditions included in the current novel. My favorite is the first one, although the most dramatic one will be the last (don't worry, I will say as little as possible about the ending). Without a ship of of his own, Jack Aubrey jumps at the chance to go on a secret and urgent mission to the Red Sea, there to capture a treasure in French bullion. But with Malta being the nest of vipers it is, it seems that everybody has found out about the mission before Jack and Stephen even set sail for the Suez. There are even signs that point to a mole among the higher echelons of the British secret services.
'Professor Graham, sir, a good evening to you. I am come from walking on the bottom of the sea.'
One of the main attractions of the series for me is the scientific research performed by Maturin and his friends. In the present journey, the cherry on the cake is a brand new diving bell, a heavy and expensive toy hat nevertheless will prove its usefulness aboard a war frigate. As Jack Aubrey leads his task force south across the desert from the Suez peninsula, I was thrilled to notice he mentions the two towns I have been working in for the last couple of years : Jeddah and Yanbu, and that Maturin sings praises of the best weekend activities for the Red Sea (snorkelling):
For a contemplative mind, there can be few greater felicities than walking on a coral reef, with nondescript birds above, nondescript fishes below, and an unimaginable wealth of sea-slugs, plumed worms, mollusc, cephalopods in the nearby depths.
For a transition novel between longer expeditions (the next one on the list is the long awaited voyage to the far side of the world, the one that was turned into a movie), the stay in Malta proved in turns dramatic and humorous, and the sea battles make up for their shortness in sheer intensity
Note to self : I don't remember if I have have mentioned it before, but I love the series covers, and I plan to add to my wishlist an artbook of Geoff Hunt's paintings.
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"It was as though he were running a race: a race in which he had done fairly well for awhile, after a slow start, but one in which he could not hold his lead and was being overtaken, perhaps from lack of that particularly nameless quality that brought some men success when it just eluded others, though they might take equal pains...""
- Patrick O'Brian, Treason's Harbour
"He could not put his finger on the fault with any certainty, and there were days when he could say with real conviction that the whole thing was mere fatality, the other side of the good luck that had attended him in his twenties and early thirties, the restoration of the average."
- Patrick O'Brian, Treason's Harbour
Nearly half done with the series and I'm still as entranced with it as I was with book one (
Master and Commander). O'Brian does change things up a bit with this one that spends as much time on land as on water. I was excited about the extended period spent in Malta because I'm taking my family to Malta (staying in Valletta and traveling to Gozo) this summer. It was nice to get a literary exposure to spots one will spend a few days or a week in.
Anyway, I also enjoyed the espionage focus, the diving bell, the dog, the Suez/Red Sea expedition with its Arab and Turkish flavors. Strange as it may seem, I'm also becoming a bit emotional about the HMS Surprise. Sniff. -
Yet another fine nautical gem, though clearly a piece with its successor, given the abruptly hewn finale, leaving me with the heavy burden of reading on. Heaven forfend! Also of note: no other books leave me laughing like an idiot in public places more than these. Reading Stephen effuse about his diving bell exploits floored me: "...but the annelids, my dear Graham, the annelids! Hundreds, nay thousands of annelids of at least six and thirty several kinds, some plumed and others plain. And wait until I tell you about my holothurians, my sea-slugs, my sea-cucumbers..." (p. 74). There's also plenty of fine Killick action in this one.
gregale (n): a string northeast wind of the Mediterranean, also used in Moby Dick, I think, though they never touched those waters. (p. 10)
crackit gaberlunzie (n): apparently a half-witted beggar,
according to WikiPOBia (bless it!), though it provides no citation. A "gaberlunzie" is apparently a
Medieval Scots term for a beggar, and I assume "crackit" can only mean something like "cracked" (
this would certainly suggest so). See it in context
here. (p. 11)
coriaceous (adj): leather-like. (p. 61)
hangi (n): clearly some kind of bird, as Stephen says, "Will you look at that bird [...:]. I believe it to be a hangi. They are said to be peculiar to this island." However, I've looked around, checked some checklists of Maltese birds, and found no mention of a hangi, except in reference to this novel. What could he have been talking about...
"Neeps hackit with balmagowry." This was the perfectly clear, lucid response to the question, "What are bashed neeps?" This is Graham the Scotsman again. "Neeps" are turnips, hackit:crackit::hacked:cracked, but balmogowry is apparently a neologism! If werdnerd you be, you must
read this short letter from
Lisa Grossman, co-author of
Lobscouse and Spotted Dog Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels, on the origins of this word (warning: doing so may result in contraction of the Hockogrockle). (p. 74)
dragoman (n): an interpreter. Alas, poor Hairabedian. (p. 106)
mome (n): a fool. (p. 108)
vi et armis: with force of arms. (p. 146)
scend (v): to heave or lurch, also available as a noun! (p. 179) -
I'm really trying to pace myself when going through this series, because with every part of it I read, I am more and more conscious that I only have a finite number of books remaining to be read. I'm not even quite half way through the series, but I'm still trying to draw it out as much as I can, so that I will have more of this world to savour and explore.
Treason's Harbour is one of the quieter of O' Brian's works so far. The pace is slower, and it feels much more like a part of an extended series, not a stand-alone work, than the previous novels of his that I've read. The prose is still a joy to read, elegant and free-flowing, and capable of displaying O' Brian's erudition and knowledge of the period without ever letting them overwhelm the story.
The skill and the subtlety and the love with which he draws his characters is still more than apparent, though. I've rarely read characters who seem more real to me than Jack and Stephen. I've wittered on before at length about my love for Stephen because of how closely I can relate to him as he's one of the few characters I've ever read in fiction who have a comparable background to me (mixed English and Irish culturally) and who share my speech-patterns; and this story certainly did nothing to shake that. His quietly ruthless intelligence, his single-minded fixations on his academic pursuits, his loyalty to Jack and the friendship they have - I can't offhand think of many books which inspire such a fierce joy in me as I read them. -
Read this book in 2008, and its the 9th magnificent volume of the amazing "Aubrey/ Maturin" series.
This seafaring novel is especially of intrigue and deception, and where action is also once again assured.
Set partly in Malta and partly in the pirate-infested Red Sea, Aubrey and Maturin will have problems from different angles.
Problems in Malta will be of the conspiring side of things, for while their ship being at its dockyard for repairs, Maturin will recognise and encounter various agents of Napoleon, and being that the case the Admiralty's intelligence network is thus compromised.
But due to Maturin's cunning they will succeed to fool the French and save their ship from sabotage and keep their intelligence work in tact, before they will set off for the Red Sea to confront and beat those pirates of the sea.
Highly recommended, for this is another excellent addition of this terrific series, and that's why I like to call this episode: "A Fabulous Harbour Of Secrecy"! -
Back with Captain Aubrey & Doctor Maturin, hoping this outing will be better than the last which turned out to be a bit of a stodgy affair, the only one so far I should add, in what has been a great high seas adventure series.
We start on land, although this time not in Blighty but in Malta with the focus very soon on espionage & Dr Maturin! The new characters are introduced very quickly, one being a femme fatale, a very transparent one at that, whilst others more shadowy lurk in the background coming out of hiding only briefly giving them a slow burn to the story. The doctor gives the impression of being rather naive & innocent in his role as botanist but he is far from it..... he is of very sharp wit & intelligence & fully aware of all that goes on around him which comes across splendidly in the writing. His comrade Aubrey on the other hand is more like a bull in a china shop in reality although he seems himself somewhat differently. I was hoping the story would settle on Maturin’s work but sadly it does not & peters out somewhat in this respect as Aubrey comes meandering into the tale......
And afore you know it, we are off to sea in a sloop on a mission to the Arabian Peninsula involving the Turks as allies in an effort to thwart a local leader before he gets into bed with the French & allows them to garrison his port leaving the British without a safe harbour in the Red Sea. A jolly adventure on the high seas then...... sadly no as that too peters out....
The book is nearly over before anything seems to happen & then it’s all over in a rush leaving a very unsatisfied feeling......
It’s ok, amiable enough but nowhere near as enjoyable as an earlier stretch of the books where the seas chases & battles were action packed & tension fuelled. 2.5 stars rounded upto 3 Stars is all as there were many pockets of becalm & drifting.
Thats two on the bounce now that have left me high & dry, perhaps it’s time to jump ship & part company with this once merry band? -
Sempre ottimo O'Brian, sempre in forma smagliante. Nove episodi e non sentirli.
Con questo episodio la narrazione riparte collegandosi direttamente alla battaglia che aveva concluso il volume precedente, e va a terminare lasciando alcuni nodi (veri e propri intrighi che vedono Malta trasformarsi in un nido di serpi) palesemente irrisolti, dunque si tratta di un anello strettamente collegato a tutto il resto della catena.
Mentre i primi tre libri della serie possono rappresentare, volendolo, una trilogia a sé stante; le vicende dal sesto al nono vanno complicandosi e intrecciandosi e dunque vincolando viepiù la lettura alla serialità. Ma la leggerezza, la freschezza, l'ironia e al tempo stesso la professionalità dell'autore rappresentano una contropartita imperdibile anche per chi si sente respingere dall'idea di una serie di episodi così lunga. Mentre rifletto se prendermi una pausa o ripartire subito con il decimo volume, mi limito a citare, a mo' di campione, una impareggiabile lettera in cui l'amabile dottore ci mette a parte dell'Odissea secondo il punto di vista del comandante Aubrey:
...lettera iniziata il giorno precedente, quando la Surprise, diretta a Santa Maura per lasciarvi due navi del convoglio, era stata costretta ad allontanarsi dalla sua rotta a causa del cattivo tempo, giungendo quasi fino a Itaca.
"A Itaca, parola mia d'onore. Ma forse che le mie suppliche e quelle di tutti i i membri più inciviliti dell'equipaggio sono riuscite a indurre l'animale a poggiare per dirigere verso quel sacro luogo? Certamente no. Sì, aveva sentito parlare di Omero, aveva perfino sfogliato la versione del signor Pope di quella fola, ma, per ciò che aveva potuto dedurre, quel tale non era un marinaio. E' vero che Ulisse non aveva un cronometro e probabilmente nemmeno un sestante; ma semplicemente con un solcometro e una vedetta, un comandante che fosse stato un vero ufficiale avrebbe trovato la via di casa dalla fott... Troia più in fretta di così. Un gran ciondolare nei porti e correre dietro alle gonnelle, ecco di che si trattava in fin della fiera, il brutto vizio di tutte le marine del mondo, da Noè a Nelson. E quanto alla storia di tutti i gabbieri trasformati in porci, così che non aveva modo di salpare l'ancora o fare vela, be', poteva andarla a raccontare ai fanti di marina. E poi si era comportato da vero farabutto con la regina Didone... anche se, pensandoci bene, quello doveva essere l'altro tipo, il pio Anchise. Ma era lo stesso, facevano una bella coppia tutti e due, né marinai, né gentiluomini e tutti e due una fott... noia per soprammercato."
Poi, temendo di aver esagerato un po' (perché l'animale in questione era naturalmente il comandante della Surprise), mise da parte il foglio e ricominciò... -
3.5 – 4 stars
_Treason’s Harbour_, as perhaps evinced by the title, is one of the espionage-heavy entries in the Aubrey-Maturin series, thus giving a lot of page time to the good doctor Stephen Maturin. While stationed in Malta, Maturin becomes aware of a network of French spies and in the midst of turning Laura Fielding, one of their informers, over to the British side he inadvertently becomes suspected of philandering with the beautiful young lady in question (an act he would only too readily have performed in reality if not for the fact that she is the devoted wife to another naval officer currently being held in a French prison). It is this fact, of course, that the French are using as leverage for her cooperation. Aubrey, unaware of the truth behind the menage, and jealous due to his own infatuation with the lady in question, must instead settle for the undying love of her otherwise ruthless Illyrian mastiff Ponto which also causes most onlookers to think that Aubrey is the one enjoying the lady’s illicit favours much to the captain’s chagrin.
We soon find that the French network in Malta has a very far reach indeed due to the presence of a high level British accomplice and thus when Aubrey is sent on not one, but two missions of high import they both fail with nearly disastrous results. Luckily Aubrey is able to turn defeat, if not into victory, at least into something that doesn’t result in the destruciton of his ship and loss of his crew. The suspicious events also let Maturin and his superiors know that not all is well with their own intelligence network. To add to the bitter taste left by events in Aubrey’s mouth is the fact that his beloved ship the Surprise is deemed no longer fit for service due to her age, small size, and number of guns and he is tasked with the sad duty of sailing her back to England only to have her sold, or perhaps even destroyed.
I quite enjoyed this entry in the series, not least perhaps because I love the ones that strongly feature Maturin and his espionage activities. It was also a volume that had more than its fair share of humour, especially in light of Aubrey’s unhappy situation of being held to be cuckolding a fellow naval officer while in fact being unable to enjoy the supposed illicit fruits despite desperately wishing it were the case. There are a number of returning characters from the series and in addition to perennial favourites coxswain Barret Bonden and the irascible steward Preserved Killick there is a cameo from everyone’s favourite lieutenant, now down on his luck captain, Tom Pullings and some tension in the form of the incompetent Admiral Harte (whose hatred for Jack goes back to a real episode of cuckolding from his youth) and Andrew Wray. The latter is a man with highly placed friends who once cheated at cards against Jack and whom the latter called out (to no avail), but who is now in charge of the local British intelligence service and thus a man Maturin must cultivate despite his own feelings of lingering dislike. Of course the star of any scenes he is in is Ponto, Laura Fielding’s stalwart protector and devoted friend to Jack Aubrey. -
Good, as usual.
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In questi ultimi anni, la regola è stata questa: 2 O'Brian all'anno e non più, uno si inizia il 1° gennaio, per inaugurare splendidamente il nuovo anno, l'altro ad agosto, per goderselo nella quiete di giorni meno impegnati. "Così questa serie mi durerà per anni!", avevo pensato imponendomi questo limite. Sono stata molto disciplinata finora, ma sapete che vi dico? Che questi mesi di attesa spasmodica fra un libro e l'altro iniziano a pesare, e mi sa che mi premierò più spesso con queste delizie letterarie.
N.B. La recensione contiene spoiler non segnalati per le puntate precedenti. Gli spoiler per questo libro sono invece nascosti.
A gennaio dunque ci eravamo lasciati con Duello nel mar Ionio, uno degli episodi più "statici" della serie, con Aubrey impegnato nello snervante blocco di Tolone e solo alla fine libero di entrare in azione sulle coste albanesi. La vicenda riparte qui quasi senza soluzione di continuità, con tutto l'equipaggio di Jack fermo a Malta (importantissima base strategica da non molto in mano agli inglesi) in attesa che la loro nave, la "Surprise", venga riparata dalle ammaccature subìte nell'ultimo scontro, ovviamente con i ritardi, le lungaggini e le seccature che Jack ha imparato ad aspettarsi negli arsenali della Royal Navy. Una pausa di riposo, insomma, non del tutto sgradita pure per uno come Jack che starebbe sempre in mare, ma non priva di insidie. Avendo criticato l'idea dell'editore italiano di alterare il titolo della precedente puntata (The Ionian Mission era diventato Duello nel mar Ionio, facendo pensare a chissà che scontro fra due duellanti, appunto), non posso che apprezzare il fatto che invece, stavolta, Treason's Harbour sia stato reso fedelmente con Il porto del tradimento, perché davvero questa puntata si caratterizza per una complessa trama di inganni, astuzie, doppi giochi, segreti, ricerca con tutti i mezzi di informazioni.
Malta, all'apparenza così tranquilla, è un covo di spie, e tra queste vi è il francese Lesueur, che si serve per i suoi scopi di una vivace signora napoletana sposata a un ufficiale inglese, Laura Fielding, da cui Jack prende lezioni di italiano. Dietro la facciata di spensieratezza, Laura è in ansia per il marito prigioniero, e con l'esca di un trattamento di favore per quest'ultimo viene indotta da Lesueur a entrare nelle grazie di Stephen e a cercare di carpirne qualche informazione.
Laura viene ingannata, a sua volta cerca di sedurre e ingannare Stephen, che però non abbocca e (almeno inizialmente) la raggira lui stesso. Insieme poi si accordano per tener buono e ingannare Lesueur con false informazioni. La talpa che passa informazioni ai francesi è nientepopodimeno che , e al momento il suo inganno sembra aver avuto successo persino sullo scaltro Stephen. I francesi ingannano gli inglesi attirandoli . E il "tradimento" è anche sentimentale, immaginato, solo contemplato, temuto, con Jack che tenta qualche comico approccio con Laura, Stephen che, con quest'ultima così disponibile, deve combattere qualche tentazione e, allo stesso tempo, è morso da qualche fitta di dubbio sulla fedeltà di Diana in Inghilterra.
Tutto assai intricato ma gestito con la consueta perizia da O'Brian, in modo da alternare momenti più leggeri (Jack e il cane Ponto, ad esempio) ad altri avventurosi (la marcia nel deserto) ad altri infine carichi di tensione (la fretta di Stephen di tornare a Malta prima che vi giunga la notizia che ).
Ormai da qualche puntata, la parte spionistica è andata crescendo di importanza a scapito di quella dedicata alla guerra sul mare, e spesso il personaggio che agisce con più consapevolezza della situazione e dei suoi fini, che forse rispecchia di più il punto di vista dell'autore e che più indirizza il corso della storia con le sue decisioni è Stephen (sempre a sbugiardare l'erronea convinzione iniziale che questa fosse una serie dedicata al comandante Aubrey e alla sua "spalla" Maturin: i due sono coprotagonisti a tutti gli effetti). Questo ha creato uno strano senso di "mancanza di scopo" attorno a Jack, sempre attivo, attivissimo ("non c'è un momento da perdere!" è la frase che lo caratterizza e per cui spesso Stephen lo prende in giro), ma che più volte è sembrato sballottato qua e là in azioni di cui conosce solo in parte lo scopo ultimo e che, spesso e volentieri (avviene anche in questo libro), si rivelano alla fine inutili, scarsamente risolutive, se non proprio fallimentari. La cosa meravigliosa è che questo senso di futilità, di corsa senza una meta, è avvertito anche dal personaggio stesso, e aumentano le sue meditazioni in cui comincia a realizzare di trovarsi a un punto morto della sua vita e della sua carriera, che però potrebbe anche preludere a qualche imprecisata e agognata svolta. Come quando riesamina la sua carriera nella Marina e si rende conto che, dopo un avvio brillantissimo, è rimasto al palo rispetto ad altri comandanti che, partiti più tardi o meno bene di lui, lo stanno superando nelle promozioni. Non può in coscienza rimproverarsi nulla, eppure continua a sentirsi insoddisfatto.Da un po' di tempo, egli non era soddisfatto di se stesso e sebbene la sua missione nello Ionio avesse avuto come risultato l’allontanamento dei francesi da Marga, sapeva molto bene quale parte avesse avuto in ciò la fortuna, nonché la condotta magnifica dei suoi alleati turchi e albanesi. Sì, aveva affondato la Torgud, ma si era trattato più di un massacro che di una battaglia ad armi pari e un massacro non poteva guarirlo da quella profonda insoddisfazione. Gli sembrava che la sua reputazione nella marina e agli occhi del Jack Aubrey che osservava le sue azioni da una certa distanza e con la consapevolezza quasi perfetta delle loro motivazioni, fosse fondata su due o tre battaglie fortunate sul mare, azioni alle quali poteva guardare con reale compiacimento, per quanto piccole fossero; ma appartenevano al passato, erano accadute molto tempo prima e ormai molti altri godevano più di lui della stima delle persone di cui Jack apprezzava il giudizio. [...] Era come se stesse partecipando a una corsa: una corsa in cui, dopo una partenza lenta, fosse stato in vantaggio per un po', ma nella quale non riuscisse più a mantenere la posizione e si stesse facendo superare dagli altri concorrenti, forse per mancanza di resistenza, o di giudizio, o di quella particolare qualità senza nome che assicurava il successo ad alcuni e che sfuggiva ad altri, i quali pure si erano prodigati nello stesso modo. Non riusciva a mettere con certezza il dito sull'errore commesso e in certi momenti sentiva di poter affermare con vera convinzione che era tutta una questione di mera fatalità, il rovescio della buona sorte che lo aveva favorito tra i venti e i trent'anni: il ritorno a una condizione media. In altri momenti però intuiva che quel suo profondo disagio era una prova innegabile dell'esistenza di un errore e che, sebbene egli non riuscisse a dargli un nome, esso fosse invece evidente agli altri, in particolare a chi era al comando.
Sono brani meravigliosi, che arrivano inaspettati tra una conversazione e l'altra, quasi a rendere l'affiorare improvviso di questi pensieri negativi nella mente di Jack, e tanto più colpiscono perché, mentre la parte oscura di Stephen è stata ampiamente presentata e indagata (il suo passato difficile e ancora in qualche modo misterioso, la doppiezza di cui è costretto ad ammantarsi a causa del suo lavoro di agente segreto, l'inaspettata violenza di cui è capace, l'abisso della depressione in cui rischiava di cadere, la sua tormentata storia d'amore con Diana), Jack è stato sempre, di contro, un personaggio "semplice", solare, diretto, legato all'azione e al qui e ora, e, anche se la sua natura aperta, schietta e fiduciosa (finanche ingenua in alcuni casi) rimane comunque il tratto più autentico della sua personalità, è una scoperta vedere un lato più inquieto e pensoso del suo carattere che egli tiene nascosto a tutti, anche al suo grande amico, una scoperta emozionante per l'affezionato lettore.
Se posso permettermi di suggerire qualcosa al Maestro, vorrei che O'Brian, dopo aver creato questo efficace preludio, questo senso di incombente "crisi", dagli esiti positivi o negativi che siano, nei prossimi libri dedicasse finalmente maggiore spazio alla vita privata di Jack, ai suoi problemi finanziari sulla terraferma, costantemente richiamati ma poco indagati finora, ai suoi rapporti familiari (con moglie e figli, col padre).
Il porto del tradimento introduce un personaggio simpatico (che forse ha già terminato qui la sua storia o forse no, tornerà in seguito, chissà), quello di Laura Fielding, rimasta invischiata in un gioco più grande di lei e costretta a improvvisarsi seduttrice e spia poco convinta e un po' maldestra, e porta in primo piano quello che forse (insieme a Lesueur?) sarà l'antagonista principale per il prossimo futuro, e cioè , funzionario corrotto e al soldo dei francesi per motivi di denaro. in sé è ancora poco interessante, forse O'Brian non avrebbe dovuto scoprire le sue carte così presto, ma si prospetta un duello intrigante con Stephen.
I consueti comprimari hanno stavolta meno spazio del solito (anche se il burbero e acido Killick brilla sempre come "comic relief"), così come la vita a bordo e le avventure nautiche (io che ho una preferenza per le vicende sulla terraferma non posso che esserne contenta). Fantastiche le esplorazioni sul fondo marino di Stephen e del reverendo Martin, altro appassionato naturalista, all'interno della
"campana di Halley". In questo libro c'è (presumibilmente) l'ultima apparizione di , mi è particolarmente piaciuto come O'Brian ha scritto la sua ultima chiacchierata con Jack in cui, inaspettatamente, mostra il suo lato migliore, in modo che i due si lasciano con una nota, se non di amicizia, almeno di calore, inedita nei loro rapporti. Un piccolo segno, forse (io almeno lo voglio leggere così), del grande amore dell'autore per tutte le sue creature, per il suo mondo di fantasia, per la sua storia, amore che è così palpabile per i suoi lettori in ogni sua riga e che è una delle qualità che rendono i suoi libri dei capolavori. -
In Treason's Harbour, the ninth in the Aubrey/Maturin series, we find Jack and Stephen in Malta. While Jack worries about his ship's repairs, Stephen is being dogged by French spies (who aren't above attempting to honeytrap him), and it seems that the British intelligence network itself has been compromised...
I'll be honest - at this point in this series I have lost all objectivity, with Jack and Stephen having become my imaginary best friends and my times aboard ship a blissful holiday from the real world. No matter what their adventures, and even when there's no adventuring at all, I could roll happily around O'Brian's world and words forever.
I doubt it will be long before I find myself devouring number ten. -
Some may say that listening to an audio book doesn't count as reading it--that you lose something in the process of imagining the action for yourself, and that there's an extra layer of interpretation between you and the author's words because someone else is reading them to you.
Me, I don't quibble about this much. As far as I'm concerned, a decent narrator can do a great deal to make a story come alive, and Patrick Tull did do a very fine job narrating the version of Treason's Harbour I listened to. I did have to do various mental doubletakes at his portrayals of various character accents, since I have Aubrey and Maturin thoroughly imprinted into my brain as Mr. Crowe and Mr. Bettany from the movie--but aside from that, Mr. Tull did do very well distinguishing character accents from his own voice. And in general he seemed a fine narrator for the overall flavor of an Aubrey-Maturin adventure, very British, very proper, and sounding in character for the time frame in which the books are set.
As for the story itself, now we're talking. This has been my favorite of the last few of the Aubrey-Maturins I've read, in no small part because of the delightful intrigue plot involving Stephen having to help Mrs. Laura Fielding, who's been forced by the French to try to spy on their behalf because they've imprisoned her husband. There are quite a few hijinx involving Aubrey being mistaken for her lover while she is in fact trying to seduce Stephen, and Aubrey himself mistakenly believing that Stephen is in fact having an affair with her--all of which provides quite a bit of lovely character interaction between our two principles.
Played off against this is Stephen's actual intrigue going on with Mrs. Fielding, as he enlists Mrs. Fielding's willing help to turn the French's efforts against them. Meanwhile, Jack has intrigue of his own as he's ordered to go on an urgent mission into the Red Sea, which gives the reader a fine opportunity to see an older, more seasoned Jack desperately trying to turn his fortunes around by pulling off another spectacular success... and what happens when things don't go quite so well as that.
Overall this was highly enjoyable, as the Aubrey-Maturins generally are for me, and I'm ready to take on The Far Side of the World! Four stars. -
A truly superb 'chapter' in the Aubrey-Maturin canon! Loaded with adventure, intrigue, and humor. The book opens with Surprise and its crew in Malta, with Surprise being repaired after her battle with the Torgud and Kitabi (see book no. 8, The Ionian Mission). The French intelligence network is strong in Malta, and Stephen Maturin is tested to his limits to endeavor to thwart it.
The scene then shifts from Malta in the Mediterranean Sea to a slog across the Sinai Desert to the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea as Jack, Stephen, and the crew of Surprise 'borrow' a ship from the East India Company to pursue the nefarious and scheming French in a devilishly clever little campaign. Stephen even brings along a diving bell that he uses to investigate the gin-clear water of the Red Sea and marine life of the tropical reefs.
This novel really has it all. I really enjoyed the time spent in Malta, as O'Brian describes, for the reader, of just how important Malta was strategically, to both sides, during the Napoleonic wars. As usual, O'Brian includes loads of music, good food, interesting women, intelligent and witty dialogue, espionage and intrigue, exciting naval action, and lots of natural science. From virtually the first page, Patrick O'Brian pulls the reader deeper into the world of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin. While I heartily love all 20 of the completed novels, Treason's Harbour is just a cut above; a wonderful, wonderful novel! -
Oh, Stephen Maturin, you had me at "underwater diving bell".
This is book nine in O'Brian's naval adventure series about British captain Jack Aubrey and his friend/surgeon/spy Stephen Maturin set during the Napoleonic wars, and it is wonderful. This installment was a quicker read than usual for me, for whatever reason, but just as enjoyable as I have come to expect. There is lots of on-shore spying and intrigue in this one (hooray!) as Maturin deals with French spies in Malta, but it does not skimp on the seafaring adventure (bad weather, battles, sharks). I must admit that even nine books into this series that is rich with period and naval language, I really have only the vaguest notion what a topgallant or a staysail is, but it doesn't matter-- these books are so funny and smart and exciting and fantastic. Onward to number 10! -
One of the best in the series so far. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and the narration.
Stephen's dark side is quite something:
His cold, reptilian glare shocked them; their jocularity died away; they let him go.
Or
Maturin, when playing cards, was not the most amiable of mortals. When he was playing seriously he played to win, as though he were conducting an operation against the enemy; and although he scrupulously observed the letter of the rules he always, and in the most civil way, seized upon any advantage that might present itself. -
https://poseidons99.wordpress.com/202... -
This is now my third time reading through this brilliant series and I am reminded again how beautifully written and how wonderfully, addictively enjoyable they are.
Treason’s Harbour is intimately concerned with intelligence affairs as it becomes clear that there is a traitor within the Service in the Mediterranean. Jack and Stephen are again dispatched to the Eastern Med, this time to deal with the situation in a small state on the Red Sea, with the usual intimate, sometimes very exciting account of naval life, Steven’s intelligence work and, of course, his explorations of natural history.
Patrick O'Brian is steeped in the period of the early 19th Century and his knowledge of the language, manners, politics, social mores and naval matters of the time is deep and wide. Combined with a magnificent gift for both prose and storytelling, it makes something very special indeed. The books are so perfectly paced, with some calmer, quieter but still engrossing passages and some quite thrilling action sequences. O'Brian's handling of language is masterly, with the dialogue being especially brilliant, but also things like the way his sentences become shorter and more staccato in the action passages, making them heart-poundingly exciting. There are also laugh-out-loud moments and an overall sense of sheer involvement and pleasure in reading.
I cannot recommend these books too highly. They are that rare thing; fine literature which are also books which I can't wait to read more of. Wonderful stuff. -
Espionage on the island of Malta plus conflict at sea. The whole saga is captivating. Steven Maturin really shines in this. On land that is. Where he excels.
Jack Aubrey is the same at sea, but rather like a fish out of water on land. These stories seem to switch between Maturin being the star in port or land with Jack Aubrey being a total master and commander aboard ship.
The espionage angle of this story is very gripping. Maturin is aware of all the deceit and complications too. A skilful enemy agent and his recruits want to infiltrate the Admiralty on the island of Malta. They are blackmailing a Sicilian Lady who is married to a captured British seaman. As Maturin uncovers things we are presented with more puzzles for future stories.
Jack Aubrey is ordered to come to terms with a titled middle eastern man who they suspect is allying with the French and who is demanding vast sums of money for neutrality or alliance etc. This leads to a great duel of ships at sea.
Another enjoyable part of the Aubrey/Maturin saga. I've already got the following story to this. The Far Side of the World. Truly splendid seafaring yarns. -
“I am an urinator.” “Really, Stephen. Recollect yourself.”
or
Espionage, temptation, and "secret" missions in the Mediterranean and Red Sea
The first chapter of Treason's Harbour (1983), the 9th novel in Patrick O’Brian's wonderful Aubrey-Maturin series, brings readers new to the saga up to speed by profiling Jack Aubrey and his bosom friend Stephen Maturin via the narrative trick of having Stephen observe Jack while a French intelligence-agent (Lesueur) observes Stephen. Jack is a 100% English, blond, ox-like, noisy, open, good-natured, music-loving Royal Navy Captain who's heroic at sea and foolish ashore, while Stephen is a half-Catalan, half-Irish, dark, small, discreet, mordant, music-loving surgeon/spy/naturalist who's clumsy at sea and masterful ashore. By the end of the 8th novel, The Ionian Mission (1981), Jack and Stephen had scored big wins for the Turks and Brits in the war against France (Stephen hating the tyranny of Napoleon while turning a blind eye to England's own tyranny of India for example), and as this one begins they're still in the Mediterranean, stuck on Malta while Jack's ships are being repaired by "Slow devious stupid corrupt incompetent officials, tradesmen and artificers." The capable governor of Malta has been replaced with a dangerous fool, the island is teeming with spies, and Andrew Wray, who, ever since Jack once accused him of cheating at cards has been strangling Jack's career, has come to the island as the acting second secretary of the Admiralty. The friends' entertainment revolves around a beautiful Neapolitan woman, Mrs. Laura Fielding, who is teaching Jack Italian and flirting with Stephen and hosting both at her musical evenings. In fact she's working for the French, who have pressured her to get close to the friends by reminding her of her Royal Navy lieutenant husband being kept in a French prison under threat of death.
In addition to efficiently introducing Jack and Stephen, their adversaries, and the political situation, the first chapter provides interesting thoughts on mood and culture, humorous scenes involving Stephen and a horsefly and Jack and a giant dog, and vivid descriptions of the shining cityscape of Valletta on Malta. And the novel continues that way, an enriching and entertaining pleasure: Napoleonic Age of Sail adult comfort food with historical accuracy, human insights, interesting events, and savory characters.
Here are some examples of O’Brian’s witty, literate writing on
--sailing: “the frigate's wake streamed away and away from him, dead white in the troubled green, so white, that the gulls poising and swooping over it looked quite dingy."
--human nature: "Maturin, when playing cards, was not the most amiable of mortals."
--fauna: “camels as composed as cats.”
--climate: “Now they had slowed to a walk, the air was still and the heat reverberated from the shimmering walls of the town, while the climbing sun, low in the west but still ferociously strong, beat full on his back.”
--culture: “Some of my best friends are Englishmen. . . Yet even the most valuable have this same vicious inclination to make a confused bellowing whenever happy. It is harmless enough in their own country, where the diet deadens the sensibilities, but it travels badly.”
Readers impatient for exciting action (especially naval) may not enjoy O’Brian’s leisurely pacing, as Jack and Stephen spend the majority of this novel ashore and engage in more conversation than battles. Readers who enjoy character and style and details about early 19th-century nautical affairs and espionage, here in the Mediterranean and Red Sea, with strong flavors from the Ottoman Empire and the Arabic world (Janissaries, Ramadan, sherbet, water tobacco, cushions, camels, ghouls, sand, heat, etc.), should enjoy the novel. Moreover, although action scenes are rare, when O’Brian writes them they are cinematic, suspenseful, and unpredictable, as in a brief, climactic fight involving a coast, rocks, ships, canons, and sailing. And O’Brian does write scenes of sublime or exhilarating or meditative seas and skies and sails and ships.
But this book is very much about espionage, taking its simple principle--to obtain information and deny it to the enemy--and complicating it with human nature, the uncooperative and proliferating state of the French and British intelligence organizations, and the tricky web of international relations between the two powers and the many other countries caught up in their war. Indeed, the flaw (for this reader) in the novel is related to the matter of intelligence. It may be due to O’Brian revealing Wray's perfidy to the reader early on, but I kept thinking that given Stephen's experience, wisdom, keen observation, and suspicious nature he'd surely suspect Wray more than he does.
O’Brian’s series reads like a single composite novel. Therefore, although the books more or less stand on their own, they do benefit from being read in order as a set, and some are less independent than others. Among the first nine novels in the series I've read so far, I’ve found a few story-arcs oriented around different theaters in the war between the UK and France and different stages in Jack’s career, and this 9th book ends in the middle of a developing arc, leaving some issues unresolved: Will Stephen discover “the Judas” leaking secret mission details to the French? Will Jack get a big ship to captain in the American theater? Thus readers who like the series will quickly want to go on to the 10th novel and readers new to the work should probably start with the splendid first book, Master and Commander (1969).
Ric Jerrom continues to be the only reader I can imagine for the audiobooks, effortlessly doing Jack and Stephen’s very different voices as well as those of a host of other characters, whether male or female, English or foreign, young or old, coarse or cultured, cool or slimy, angry or happy, speaking or singing, etc. -
Ice decided to describe these from now on as Tolkien-esque. Not because of any fantastical elements, but because the author is writing for his own enjoyment as a historical researcher rather than for a popular audience, just as Tolkien's stories were rooted in and driven by his love of linguistics. Readability and audience enjoyment were inconsequential in the face of academic considerations, for both authors.
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Qualcosa della trama non mi ha convinto. C'è un certo senso di "insoddisfazione" dato dal fatto che alcune trame appaiono e scompaiono troppo rapidamente, lasciando per l'appunto un vago senso di insoddisfazione perché "vorremmo di più". Infatti il nostro Jack Aubrey si vede affidate ben due diverse missioni con, in mezzo, intrighi vari nel porto di Malta (e non solo).
Per il resto, è il solito brillante O'Brian con la sua bella scrittura.
Voto 3,5 -
O’Brian’s writing is often compared to Jane Austen, but I strongly suspect that this is just a widespread reflex to which pretty much anything set in the Regency period is somehow “like Jane Austen.” There is at least some justice to it in this case, in so far as the implied narrator of the Aubrey-Maturin novels is clearly a contemporary and shares not only the conceptions and prejudices of his characters but also their language – as manifest not just in the extensive (and to the reader often exasperating) use of nautical terms but in O’Brians’s general choice of words, the way he constructs long periods, indeed even the very rhythm of his prose is somehow evocative of the late 18th / early 19th century. However, while on one hand the narrator appears completely immersed in the period in which the novels take place, at the same time he is clearly not and writes with a distinct detachment, watching the to-and-fro on both land and sea from a distance, with wry amusement and ever-present irony.
And irony is, I think, the key word here – the author who O’Brian makes me most think of is not Jane Austen (whose irony, it seems to me, is more of the tongue-in-cheek variety and something quite different) but Thomas Mann the vast majority of whose narrators also cultivate this involved-but-not-really-commited attitude (and his protagonist often as well – as when Joseph is said to have become in all respects like an Egyptian – “but with reservations”). Thomas Mann is one of the most imitated writers of the twentieth century, but for some reason it seems to be next to impossible to imitate him successfully – while there is a plethora of excellent, even great Faulkner epigones (to name just one example), almost everyone attempting to write in the vein of Thomas Mann seems to end up second- or third-rate (if not worse), mostly due to a vapid and anaemic prose style. Now, one can call O’Brian’s writing a lot of things, but anaemic is certainly not one of them. I suspect that the reason O’Brian succeeds where so many others have failed is that he applies Thomas Mann’s distinct brand of irony not to the novel of ideas but to the historical novel, where the genre itself pretty much guarantees a certain saturation with vivid details and a certain groundedness which prevents a text from pirouetting endlessly around itself, producing nothing but narcissistic self-centeredness – another trap those who would follow in the footsteps of Thomas Mann like to fall into.
In addition the characteristic hovering of irony, the vacillating between two sides of a border without coming down on either seems an almost too perfect solution for what is maybe the central dilemma of the traditional historical novel (i.e., not postmodern and not written by William T. Vollmann) – to present a past period as it has been experienced by its contemporaries while at the same time remaining aware of the basic impossibility of that undertaking, simultaneously immersing the reader in a historical epoch and reminding him that this immersion is an illusion, mere make-believe and an approximation at best. This is a very fine line to walk, and most historical novels tend to fall off to one side or the other – which is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact the results can be quite fascinating, especially if the novel crashes on the immersion side of the divide. O’Brian, however, always remains in perfect balance, walking the tightrope in supreme confidence. In fact, he sometimes makes it look too easy – this is always a danger of irony, that it just is not very dangerous but plays things safe, that the narrator’s equanimous distance from events prevents them from touching him too deeply.
Treason’s Harbour – to say at least a sentence or two about the actual book I’m supposed to be writing about here – does not quite escape this, I think. While it speeds things up again after the non-events of The Ionian Mission, spicing things up mainly with some espionage intrigue, it certainly chuffs along pleasantly enough, and it’s of course always a delight to let oneself be carried along by the rhythm of O’Brians prose. But I felt the novel was lacking a bit in emotional involvement. So I may have liked this chapter in the Aubrey-Maturin saga just a tad less than some previous instalments, but overall I still loved and remain eager to continue. -
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Stephen's spying and
Patrick Tull's vivid narration
I listened to this audiobook eleven years ago (28-Aug-2011). I no longer have a vivid memory of this specific book, though I do well remember my impressions of the later Aubrey/Maturin novels. As the series continued,
Patrick O'Brian found himself in difficulties. One of the things we love about these books is their historical accuracy. But as the story advanced to Jack's later years we entered a historical period in which there were few exciting battles of tall ships to recount. One of the ways
O'Brian deals with this is to tell more stories about Stephen and his dangerous espionage activities. I liked this -- I always loved Stephen, and it was fun to see him as not just a bird-lover, but also a dangerous swordsman. Some of the other late books don't work quite so well. I didn't enjoy the books in which we wallow in Jack's financial miseries, or those in which Stephen's travails with laudanum and Diana come to the fore.
I am not sure if I have the right edition here. I listened to the recording released on Audible by Random House Audio o4-Jan-2001, narrated by
Patrick Tull. I do not believe that version is any longer available.
Tull's vivid narration was a great pleasure.
Blog review. -
The continuing adventures of Dr.Maturin and his bff, Captain Aubrey of the Royal Navy. This is a particularly endearing look at them, because both are in fine form. Aubrey is able to showcase his incredible seamanship, strategy, and leadership, while Maturin's naturalist excusions are a humorous counterpoint to his intelligent manipulations. The humor of their strange shipmates and odd customs of the Navy, the obvious intimacy with Maturin's foibles, the affection shown by all of them toward each other--I really loved it.
Three things spoiled my enjoyment: Patrick Tull is generally a good narrator, but his voice for the Italian Mrs.Fielding is atrocious, so bad and artificial that it sounds like a parody. Being party to the French Intelligence officers' meetings is fun for the reader, but made me impatient when Maturin didn't figure out the various French plots. And thirdly, the book ends right in the middle of a spy plot and right before more ship battles! I could hardly believe the book ended in such an awkward spot--at first I thought I'd downloaded it wrong! -
The Aubrey & Maturin novels continue to delight. This one features Stephen’s adventures with a diving bell, Jack rescuing a dog from a well, a nefarious spy who suffers from piles, and a foiled bear hunt. Another highlight is the visit of Mrs Fielding to the ship Surprise, which results in the crew’s language improving remarkably: ‘It was pleasant to hear the bosun cry, “Oh you… unskilful fellow” when a hand called Faster Doudle, staring aft at Mrs. Fielding, dropped a marline-spike from the maintop, very nearly transfixing Mr. Hollar’s foot.’ As ever, the dialogue is filled with wonderful puns and perfect comic timing, as well as constant affection for the characters. Much of the land-based action is set in and around Malta, where it is seemingly impossible to keep secrets as everyone gossips all the time. Various sea maneuvers are naturally present too, involving the wicked French and the untrustworthy Turks, however I generally pay less attention to these. It is the absurd details of character that make this series a joy to read. Moreover, I’ve never come across another writer that uses the enchanting word ‘mumchance’.
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I started this book over a year ago ... Probably for me, the longest period of time between the start and finish of a book.
It's hard for me to explain why I like these books so much. Some of them aren't terribly exciting by any means. I think it's the nostalgia of a simpler time when ships were sailing in the sea and people were communicating with letters for the most part.
Sometimes I hate technology. it just seems to rule our world so much and I long for time when people actually had to use their intelligence to write a letter instead of using text speak.
1st vocab word of this book:
Holden was already sitting at his old shipmate's table, one hand holding a glass of wine, the other stretched out, pointing at a singularly magnificent diamond spray in Jack Aubrey's hat. 'What, what is that?' he cried.
'It is a chelengk,' said Jack with some complacency. 'Ain't I elegant?'
chelengk: It was a turban ornament consisting of a central flower with leaves and buds, and thirteen upward-facing rays. -
One of my favourites in the series thus far due to Maturin's spy antics taking centre stage, as much as I enjoy the naval adventures of Aubrey. Absolutely flew by and Ric Jerrom's narration is outstanding as usual.
