Patrick O'Brian’s Bodies at Sea: Sex, Drugs and the Physical Form in the Aubrey-Maturin Novels

An exploration of the complex roles that bodies - both literally and figuratively - play in the 21 volume Aubrey-Maturin novels reveals much about the novels’ meditation on the dichotomy of mind and body. The book begins with a consideration of the role of genre norms and the bodies of the novels’ main characters. The focus then shifts to considerations of the way the series offers interconnections between the human body and history.

The more literal considerations of the human body examine O'Brian’s depictions of drug use, particularly the opium addiction that afflicts Stephen Maturin, and human sexuality in its many guises. The concluding section of the study focuses on Desolation Island, the fifth novel in the series, reading it in light of the discussions that came before but also in terms of political and psychological tropes which draw upon the relationship of mind and body. These various discussions also link to questions about the relationship of reader to author, and what sustains such a long narrative and what continues to bring a reader back again and again.