O’Brian, Patrick (1914-2000), was an English author who gained international fame for his Aubrey-Maturin series of historical novels. O’Brian set almost all of these sea novels during the Napoleonic Wars between England and France, which ended in 1815.
O’Brian introduced Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin in the first novel in the series, Master and Commander (1969). Aubrey is an officer in the Royal Navy, and Maturin is a physician and British secret agent. The stories take the two friends throughout the world, from England and Ireland to France, Gibraltar, Australia, western Africa, India, the United States, and Chile. The series has been praised for its vivid and realistic re-creation of life in the period covered by the novels. The books are especially noted for their authentic use of the technical language and jargon of the time. Other writers have published a dictionary of special words and phrases used in the series, as well as an atlas of maps covering the action in each novel.
O’Brian was a biographer and translator as well as a historical novelist. He wrote a biography of the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, published in 1976. He also translated works by the noted French writer Simone de Beauvoir. In addition, O’Brian wrote several novels outside the Aubrey-Maturin series.
O’Brian was born on Dec. 14, 1914, near London. His real name was Richard Patrick Russ. He changed his name to Patrick O’Brian in 1945. He was working on the 21st novel in the Aubrey-Maturin series at the time of his death on Jan. 2, 2000. The complete series was published in a five-volume set in 2004.
