Frederick Marryat - has anyone read him?

[Sabo]

I know that he wrote a bunch of novels and stories about sea adventures or something like that, but that's about it. Has anyone read him? What is he like? Can you compare him to someone?

[Whifflingpin]

It could be said that all the modern authors who write Napoleonic period naval stories (Forester, O'Brien, Pope, etc) are merely derivatives of Marryat.

The difference is that he was really there, and speaks with the authentic voice of the time. This, of course, may make him harder for modern readers to enjoy, as there is a often a fair amount of moralising dialogue that is no longer fashionable.

I'd start with "Mr Midshipman Easy"

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[mtpspur]

True confession time--if Classics Illustrated comics did an adaptation I
liked I would generally seek out the book (Lorna Doone ans Moby Dick's length discouraged me back then) but I never ever found a Marryat book (as well as G. A. Henty).

Oddly enough the library had few books by Walter Scott other then Ivanhoe (required reading) and Waverly which I just coould not get into.

30 years later and I still can't read Scott and to my horror Dickens is starting to lose his charm--though book in question was Edwin Drood -- had 2 diiferent editions by 2 authors trying to finish the book for Dickens--couldn't get past chapter 3.