- The Commodore
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This article is about the C.S. Forester novel. For the seventeenth novel in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series, see The Commodore (novel). For other uses, see Commodore.
The Commodore
1st edition coverAuthor(s) C. S. Forester Country United Kingdom Language English Series Horatio Hornblower Genre(s) Historical novel Publisher Michael Joseph, London Publication date 1945 Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) Pages 272 pp ISBN 0-14-001116-1 OCLC Number 16550230 Preceded by Flying Colours (1938) Followed by Lord Hornblower (1946) The Commodore (published 1945) is a Horatio Hornblower novel written by C. S. Forester. It was published in the United States under the title Commodore Hornblower.
Plot summary
Having achieved fame and financial security, Captain Sir Horatio Hornblower has married Lady Barbara Leighton (née Wellesley) and is preparing to settle down to unaccustomed life as the squire of Smallbridge in Kent. He still yearns to serve at sea and accepts with alacrity when the Admiralty puts him in command of a squadron and sends him on a diplomatic and military mission to the Baltic. His primary aim is to bring Russia into the war against Napoleon.
Hornblower is shown dealing with the problems of squadron command, and using naval mortars (carried on special ships known as bomb vessels) to destroy a French prize. This leads to the French invasion of Swedish Pomerania. Later his squadron calls at Kronstadt, where he meets with Russian officials, including Tsar Alexander I, who is favourably impressed by Hornblower and his squadron.
After Russia enters the war, Hornblower's squadron takes an important role in the defence of Riga, which is besieged by French forces. The bomb vessels again take an important role, and so do amphibious operations under the protection of the squadron. The siege is finally broken, and Hornblower joins the pursuit of the French armies on horseback, only to fall seriously ill with typhus.
During the siege and pursuit, Carl von Clausewitz, a German officer in Russian service, who is later to become famous as a military theorist and writer, is a character.
The novel occasioned some controversy when it was published. It appeared as a serial in the Saturday Evening Post, and Hornblower, in a sexual encounter with a (married) Russian Countess, was the Post's first adulterer. As Forester says in his Hornblower Companion, "...it really caused quite a flutter". Forester wanted to give Hornblower the opportunity to catch typhus, although he does comment that he believes that Hornblower caught typhus during the siege rather than in bed.
This book shows Hornblower's contrary character more strongly than many preceding books in the series. In particular, he is shown to be unable to be happy or self-satisfied in spite of accomplishments highly valued by others, including both professional and personal success. It also shows a growth of paternal feeling by Hornblower toward junior officers.
The historical accuracy of this book is limited: Forester later wrote that he did not know what British naval forces, if any, were engaged at the siege of Riga. (Historically they were commanded by Thomas Byam Martin.) The date of publication (1945) reveals Forester's preoccupation in The Commodore—he parallels the political situation with that in the second world war. In both cases, Russia was originally allied with a continental dictator (Hitler:Napoleon) but changed sides after being treacherously invaded. In both cases Sweden remained neutral and traded with both sides. Russia similarly occupied other Baltic territories (Finland, Lithuania etc.) raising doubts about the correct response among the British government. In The Commodore (but not in the real Napoleonic period), as in the second world war, the RN offered substantial help to Russia: at the siege of Riga, and by guarding the Arctic convoys. Less obviously, Forester draws parallels between the early 19th century and his own time in one or two of the other Hornblower novels.
See also
- The Commodore is also the title of a 1995 Aubrey–Maturin series novel by Patrick O'Brian.
- The Commodore: A novel of the Sea (1986) is a novel written by Jan de Hartog
- Commodore (rank)
Horatio Hornblower series by C. S. Forester Novels: Mr. Midshipman Hornblower • Lieutenant Hornblower • Hornblower and the Hotspur • Hornblower and the Crisis • Hornblower and the Atropos • The Happy Return (Beat to Quarters) • A Ship of the Line • Flying Colours • The Commodore • Lord Hornblower • Hornblower in the West Indies
Short stories: "The Hand of Destiny" • "Hornblower and the Widow McCool" ("Hornblower’s Temptation") • "Hornblower’s Charitable Offering" • "Hornblower and His Majesty" • "The Point and the Edge" • "The Last Encounter"
Works by C. S. Forester Novels: A Pawn Among Kings (1924) · Payment Deferred (1926) · Love Lies Dreaming (1927) · The Wonderful Week (1927) · The Shadow of the Hawk (1928) · Brown on Resolution (1929) · Plain Murder (1930) · Death to the French (1932) · The Gun (1933) · The Peacemaker (1934) · The African Queen (1935) · The General (1936) · The Happy Return (1937) (Beat to Quarters in U.S.) · A Ship of the Line (1938) · Flying Colours (1938) · To the Indies (1940) · The Earthly Paradise (1940) · The Captain from Connecticut (1941) · The Ship (1943) · The Bedchamber Mystery (1944) · The Commodore (1945) · Lord Hornblower (1946) · The Sky and the Forest (1948) · Mr. Midshipman Hornblower (1950) · Randall and the River of Time (1950) · Lieutenant Hornblower (1952) · Hornblower and the Atropos (1953) · The Good Shepherd (1955) · Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies (1958) · Hornblower and the Hotspur (1962) · Hornblower and the Crisis (1967)Short stories: "The Paid Piper" (1924) · "Two-and-Twenty" (1931 autobiographical) · "The Nightmare" (1954) · "The Last Encounter" (1967) · "Hornblower and the Widow McCool" (1967) · "The Man in the Yellow Raft" (1969) · "Gold from Crete" (1970) · "Hornblower One More Time" (1976)Picture books: Poo-Poo and the Dragons (1942) · The Barbary Pirates (1953)Plays: U 97 (1931) · Nurse Cavell (1933)Articles: "Hollywood Coincidence" (1956) · "William Joyce" (1965)Non-fiction: Napoleon and His Court (1924) · Josephine, Napoleon's Empress (1925) · Victor Emmanuel II and the Union of Italy (1927) · Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre (1928) · Nelson (1929) · The Voyage of the Annie Marble (1929) · The Annie Marble in Germany (1930) · Marionettes at Home (1936) · The Adventures of John Wetherell (1953)(editor) · The Age of Fighting Sail (1956) · The Naval War of 1812 (1957) · The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck (1959) (or "Hunting the Bismark") · The Hornblower Companion (1964) · Long Before Forty (1967)Categories:- 1945 novels
- Hornblower books
- Napoleonic War novels
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