Sea Fever

April 20, 2015
Taking its title from a John Masefield poem, Jefferson's study of how seafaring has influenced great American and English writers has moments of great charm but ultimately falls flat. Jefferson, a maritime historian, covers household names like Ernest Hemingway, who had a passion for big-game fishing; James Fenimore Cooper, whom Jefferson considers the first of the modern nautical novelists; and Herman Melville, whose experiences aboard a whaling ship found voice in his great masterpiece, Moby-Dick. Jefferson pinpoints 18th-century satirist Tobias Smollett as the first to write convincingly about the sea and ship life, after serving in the Royal Navy as a surgeon's mate. Other authors covered include Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Joseph Conrad. Jefferson writes in a winsome, casual, somewhat hyperbolic style, and clearly loves both the sea and his equally salty subjects, but that may not be enough to engage even those readers generally interested in the authors whose work he analyzes. Jefferson cheerfully confesses that he is not writing as a literary critic or a scholar, rather offering a mostly descriptive, occasionally speculative account of the convergence of seafaring and literature. His intense focus offers some revelations, but more often provokes a feeling that the big picture is being obscured by this microscopic approach. Illus.

Starred review from April 15, 2015

This volume is a welcome companion to journalist and maritime historian Jefferson's previous Clipper Ships and the Golden Age of Sail, tying together classical stories on how seafaring and ocean adventure influenced authors and storytellers such as Joseph Conrad, James Fenimore Cooper, Ernest Hemingway, Robert Louis Stevenson, and several others. Jefferson takes a work from each of these authors and infuses it with a historical perspective that adds to the impact of the original narrative. The reader becomes involved in the development of the tale and assumes the role of participant-observer as the background of the adventure is detailed by Jefferson. Included are well-written and captivating chronicles of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, Melville's Moby-Dick, Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and Stevenson's Treasure Island. This book is similar to Lincoln Paine's The Sea and Civilization and Brian Lavery's Ship in detailing a knowledge of seafaring history. VERDICT Those who relish historical fiction, seafaring and maritime history or adventure, and literary history are sure to find much to enjoy in this pleasurable read.--John Dockall, Austin, TX

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