Captain Frederick Marryat

Robert Clark (The Literary Encyclopedia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University), Emily Rohrbach (University of Durham)

Dates

Born 10 Jul 1792
Died 9 Aug 1848
Activity 1812-1848

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Military commander
Novelist

Other

Mariner/ Navigator/ Seaman

Resources

Marryat's Works

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Captain Frederick Marryat is known today as the inventor of the adventurous, military maritime novel. Sixty years ago, his name was known to any literate reader of English since his novels had shaped the imaginations of nearly all English readers for at least a hundred years after 1840, especially those who went on to write novels of adventure. Later exponents of the genre include R.M. Ballantyne (1825-94) whose most famous work is

The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific

Ocean (1858), C. S. Forester (1899-1966) with his Hornblower novels (1937-67), Patrick O’Brian (1914-2000) notably with his

Master and Commander

(1989), and William Golding (1911-1993) with his sea-trilogy

To the Ends of the Earth

comprising

Close Quarters

(1987),

Fire Down Below

(1989) and

Rites of Passage

(1990).

The

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4900 words

Citation: Clark, Robert. "Captain Frederick Marryat". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 July 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2949, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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