Patrick O'Brian

I read a generally lousy biography of him by his stepson, Nikolai Tolstoy. It's just not well done--poor writing, too much speculation, too much excuse-making, too much of what seems like oversimplified, century-old psychology. But it draws on interesting, primary sources, contains some interesting information about how Richard Patrick Russ became Patrick O'Brian, and provides another side of the (generally unsympathetic) story that Dean King presented. One solid conclusion to be drawn about O'Brian: what a strange man. (Another: Maturin!)

Take, for instance, the following quote, which I very much like. It's from the Tolstoy biography (p. 263), an excerpt from a letter O'Brian wrote in 1970 from Austria to his wife, with whom he was having some problems.

Sometimes you have said that I do not speak clearly, and it is true: I distrust words and I value indirection too highly. But I will say this as directly as can be--if you think my writing worth a straw, do not keep me in this state.

I love the change of direction. He writes very honestly, openly, and directly--for the first sentence. But the second sentence, which he touts as direct, seems to me to be missing the point! Why not say, "But I will say this as directly as can be--if you love me, if you value me, do not keep me in this state"? That seems "as direct[] as can be." Of course, I'm not an author. I don't live for my craft. I don't know if he went to Austria to write. I don't know if, though I doubt it, she valued him only as an author, not as, you know, her husband. It just seems strangely off.

And, in that way, it is extremely true to O'Brian.