Patrick O'Brian

Pozitivní, originální, zábavná a nesmírně působivá kniha… evokující slavného malíře se vší jeho patrnou vitalitou i se všemi vnitřními protiklady a přinášející konkrétní popisy významných obrazů. Výsledkem je lesk geniality, usilovné práce (jež pro Picassa byla čirým potěšením), radosti a chuti do života.

A scholarly, passionate and brilliantly-written biography of Pablo Picasso by Patrick O'Brian, the famous author of the much-loved Aubrey-Maturin series, reissued in a stunning new cover. Patrick O'Brian's outstanding biography of Picasso explores comprehensively the life of this awe-inspiring artist. Enormously productive and hugely successful, Picasso continues to attract avid, insatiable public interest. O'Brian was a close friend and a neighbour of Picasso's, and the book reflects the closeness of their friendship and the immense erudition and warm wit of Patrick O'Brian. The man that emerges from the pages is full of contradictions: hard yet tender, mean yet generous, affectionate but cold, professing communism but retaining an essentially Catholic mentality, private despite his relish of fame. Critically, O'Brian's is the only biography to fully appreciate the distinctly Mediterranean origins of Picasso's character and art. Sex and money, eating and drinking, friends and quarrels, comedies and tragedies, suicides and wars tumble over each other in the vast chaos of Picasso's experience, He was 'a man almost as lonely as the sun, but one who glowed with much the same fierce, burning life.'

This special hardback edition celebrates the 50th anniversary of first publication with a brand-new foreword by O'Brian's stepson and biographer, Nikolai Tolstoy, and artist's note by Geoff Hunt, and includes the complete text of the previously unavailable Men-of-War, O'Brian's fascinating guide to the world of Aubrey/Maturin. Master and Commander is the first of Patrick O'Brian's now famous Aubrey/Maturin novels, regarded by many as the greatest series of historical novels ever written. It establishes the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey RN and Stephen Maturin, who becomes his secretive ship's surgeon and an intelligence agent. It contains all the action and excitement which could possibly be hoped for in a historical novel, but it also displays the qualities which have put O'Brian far ahead of any of his competitors: his depiction of the detail of life aboard a Nelsonic man-of-war, of weapons, food, conversation and ambience, of the landscape and of the sea. O'Brian's portrayal of each of these is faultless and the sense of period throughout is acute. His power of characterisation is above all masterly. This brilliant historical novel marked the debut of a writer who has grown into one of the most remarkable literary novelists now writing, the author of what Alan Judd, writing in the Sunday Times, has described as 'the most significant extended story since Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time'.

Kapitán lodí britského královského námořnictva Jack Aubrey a jeho přítel, Stephen Maturin, lékař, přírodovědec a agent anglické výzvědné služby, mají za úkol připojit se k blokádě Toulonu. Admirál velící blokádě posílá Stephena na španělské pobřeží, aby zde domluvil tajnou schůzku s francouzskými roajalisty, zatímco Jack je poslán do Barky, aby tam dopravil dary pro pašu a vyzvedl konzula. Na francouzském pobřeží se v utajení střetnou různé frakce, aniž by o sobě navzájem věděly, a Stephenův plán setkat se s francouzskými spojenci je zmařen. Bouře umožní francouzské flotě, aby vyplula z Toulonu, a britská flota ji začne vzápětí pronásledovat. Kvůli nepříznivým povětrnostním podmínkám však francouzská flota uniká. Jack dostává rozkaz plout se Surprise do Jónského moře...

Out of print for many years, this is a brand new edition of the definitive companion to the acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series of novels, written by the author himself. What was daily life in Nelson's navy really like, for everyone from the captain down to the rawest recruit? What did they eat? What songs did they sing? What was the schedule of watches? How were the officers and crew paid, and what was the division of prize-money? These questions and many more are answered in Patrick O'Brian's elegant narrative, which includes wonderful anecdotal material on the battles and commanders that established Britain's naval supremacy. The meticulously researched text and imagery together provide an unparalleled insight into life during wartime in the Napoleonic era, and offer a wonderfully evocative companion to the world of Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin.