Peter Simple : With original illustrations

by Frederick Marryat

Overview

Peter Simple is an 1834 novel written by Frederick Marryat about a young British midshipman during the Napoleonic wars. It was originally published in serialized form in 1833.

The novel describes the naval career of a young gentleman during the period of British Mastery of the seas in the early 19th century. The hero of the title is introduced as 'the fool of the family', son of a parson and heir presumptive to the influential Lord Privilege. This forms a subplot among several others that run alongside the main narrative which mainly concerns the young man's journey from adolescent to adulthood amidst a backdrop of war at sea.

One of the key components of the tale is Peter's relationship with the various shipmates he meets, mainly an older officer who takes young Simple under his wing and proves invaluable in his sea education, and also a post captain who suffers from Münchausen syndrome, among others.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940161104613
Publisher:	Freeday Shop
Publication date:	09/19/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	988,788
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Frederick Marryat (MAR-ee-uht), born in Westminster, London, was the second son of Joseph Marryat, a wealthy banker and member of Parliament. He was not well educated, and both his home and school life made him miserable. After repeated attempts to run away—each attempt ending in capture and caning—he was allowed to join the Royal Navy at the age of fourteen. Strong in body and favored by social status, he saw combat in the Napoleonic and Burmese wars and soon became a commander. In 1819 he married Kate Shairp, daughter of a diplomat.

His articles against flogging and impressment were frowned on by the Admiralty, but his important Code of Signals became the standard manual of communication by the navy and maritime services for many years. Promoted to post-captain in 1825, his interests turned to writing fiction.

Marryat tried to be both man of fashion and man of letters. Always in debt, he worked rapidly. From 1832 to 1835 he edited Metropolitan Magazine, and during that period five of his best novels appeared in its pages. Influenced by Tobias Smollett, most of Marryat’s novels were comedies that often went into farce. The major theme was the initiation of a young man to the brutality and humor of life aboard a man-of-war.

Marryat’s significance is twofold. First, he was the earliest major novelist of naval life. Second, his novels helped build the patriotic belief in the Royal Navy as the world’s best fighting service and the myth that it was the English destiny to rule the globe. Marryat was a writer of good descriptive power, and his characters were sharp portraits of men who had responsibility but little ability and of youths who were loyal. His stories for children fit the mode of Victorian times: One should follow proper religious teachings and consider the home the center of life. Though he became an individualist because his father could not see him as an individual, he always wrote with an eye for the market; it was his catering to the mass market that caused Edgar Allan Poe to claim that his very success proved his mediocrity as a writer. However, his style is pleasingly simple, his humor often delightful, and his pathos genuine. Mr. Midshipman Easy is generally considered his best work.