The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower [Paperback]

C. Northcote (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 1998

The fictional biography of the famous naval hero, Horatio Hornblower, central character in C. S. Forester's series of 12 celebrated novels.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Sutton Publishing; X edition (September 25, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750921099
• ISBN-13: 978-0750921091
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #183,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Must" reading for Hornblower fans, April 18, 2000

By 

Bernhard W. Hoff "benhoff" (NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower (Paperback)

Of all the fictional characters in literature, only a handful have been compelling enough to be appropriated directly into stories by writers other than their original creators. Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is one such character. C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower is another. This work by C. Northcote Parkinson is just such a continuation story, but with a twist. Instead of an historical novel, Parkinson writes the book as if it were an actual biography complete with illustrated plates, footnote citations to other (probably fictional) sources, and extended quotes from letters supposedly written by the characters. The Hornblower enthusiast will appreciate the few extra episodes wedged into the chronology created by the original author, as well as a detailed account of Hornblower's ancestry, boyhood, and forty years of life after the period of active service originally chronicled by Forester. But the purist might take exception to one or two new characters that Parkinson takes the liberty of introducing. Parkinson is also quite knowledgeable about the period, and does an excellent job of framing a life such as Hornblower's within the society (both civilian and naval) in which the character is supposed to have lived.

Although written as a serious biography, the author is clearly a Hornblower fan having a bit of fun as his retirement project. Parkinson is best known as the originator of "Parkinson's Law" (work expands to occupy available time) and the author of a popular series of humorous but pointed commentaries on management practices written in the 1950's and 1960's. In these books, he often feigns being a sociologist discovering universal principles of human behavior. So it is no surprise that he should follow up with this story in which he pretends to be an historian researching an actual person. The same tongue in cheek humor is at work.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Filling In The Gaps, October 14, 2000

By 

Terence Chua (Singapore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower (Paperback)

I have this thing for biographies of fictional people - on my shelf I have Phillip Jose Farmer's excellent biographies of Tarzan and Doc Savage and I'm still trying to track down my own copy of James Bond's and W.S. Baring-Gould's Sherlock Holmes bio.

Parkinson's biography of the life and times of C.S. Forester's great naval hero Horatio Hornblower joins the others in a place of honour. Impeccably researched and serving to correct some of the inherent contradictions in Forester's novels with real history, Northcote creates a stirring complement to the books. In biographies like these there is often a temptation to either simply sypnosize the books or go off and create whole reams of "untold" adventures. Thankfully, Parkinson does neither. What he does try to do is fill in the gaps between what we've read and what is left unsaid - most of them through the clever device of letters written by our beloved Hornblower himself. What did exactly happen that fateful night on the HMS Renown when Captain Sawyer fell down that hatchway? After all these years, the truth is finally revealed.

Parkinson also goes on to tell the remainder of Hornblower's life where the novels stopped. Always reverent, and with a completely straight approach, this is one of those that people will find centuries from now and use as evidence that Hornblower, like Sherlock Holmes, was indeed a historical character. And well he should be.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Filling in the Blanks, October 26, 1999

By 

Fred Rhodes (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Life and Times of Horatio Hornblower (Paperback)

Want to know what really happened to the captain of the "Renown"? Accident or assassination? How about Hornblower's life after the Navy? What happened to his son and Lady Barbara? Forester left many gaps in Hornblower's career to be filled in. Parkinson rises to the occasion presenting a complete fictionalized biography of Forester's great naval hero. Filled with the same wonderfully authentic details that enlivened Forester's stories, this book evokes life at sea in a British man o' war during the incomparable Age of Fighting Sail. A must for any Hornblower fan!