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| Trade paperback, 140 pages Published 1998 (originally 1964) Acquired June 2008 Read March 2019 |
With Maps and Drawings by Samuel H. Bryant
I finished off my Hornblower journey with this, an official "companion" to the series written by C. S. Forester himself. I was a little surprised, to be honest, to realize that the term "companion" book, which I primarily associate with big media franchises (e.g., Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi Companion, Doctor Who: The Television Companion), goes back to the 1960s and to literature.
The first half of the book is a series of maps, covering Hornblower's career in chronological order. Some are big picture, such as one of the entire western coast of Central America, chronicling the events of Beat to Quarters. Others zoom in on specific battles, just showing a few nautical miles. These were neat, but I ultimately flipped through them pretty quickly. Instead of reading them all at once after finishing the novels, I'd've been better off keeping them by my side while reading the novels, to better help me visualize what was going on. Oh well; if I ever read the series through a third time, I will do that.
The second half is much more meaty, though, a lengthy personal essay by Forester about his history with the Hornblower character, about how he came to write one book, then three, then ten. Very rarely did he set out to do it, so you get a good glimpse into his creative process, how things bubble out of the subconscious and ultimately demand to be written. I tore through it very quickly because I enjoyed it so much. A nice way to tie up my (re)read of these books.
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