Captain Blood: His Odyssey

i woke up one bright spring day and went to work. i sat at my desk mourning the misspent youth that landed in me in my ergonomic chair in front of a radiant cancer box. i had an epiphany. i wanted to read about pirates. i rousted my boyfriend out of bed with several jangling rings of the telphone and begged him to go to the library and get me lots and lots of pirate books that i could drown my sorrows in when i returned from another grueling day at work. didn't seem like a major life event at the time.... not until i started reading about captain blood. the first book i read was "the fortunes of captain blood." my life hasn't been the same since. captain blood is one of the most amazing characters i've ever known. we spent several days together on the high seas escaping from the spanish armada. we spent countless nights enjoying carribean rum and rescuing damsels in distress. amazing how books written over half a century before i was born have been able to capture my imagination. i tried wearing an eyepatch while drinking lots of rum, but i got really dizzy and ended up with a bad headache. guess i'll just stick to reading about pirates. nice girls do needlepoint; they don't try to act like pirates.. at least that's what grandma says.

This reading was not my first acquaintance with the redoubtable Peter Blood. I first encountered him in this gripping tale about 47 years ago in the pages of a Classics Comic book. Readers nearing their sixth decade may recall these delightful comic books, which converted serious fiction into the colored drawings and essential dialogue of comic book characters, possibly in a desperate attempt to expose youngsters to literature in some form at least. However, I cannot say that I was particularly enraptured by the story of Dr. Peter Blood at that time. Perhaps I was yet too young to have the mature imagination required to appreciate fully the exploits that are so vividly described in Sabatini's book. In any event, I have now read the "real thing" and have enjoyed my vicarious adventure aboard the Arabella tremendously.This Penguin Classics edition also includes a highly educational introduction that helps the reader recognize and appreciate the various themes that run through this grand historical novel. While the introduction can be totally ignored and the story enjoyed just for its sea-faring, swashbuckling adventurism, a little understanding of the genre of the historical novel, of Sabatini's sources, and of the type of protagonist exemplified by the character of Peter Blood will add to that enjoyment even further. In fact, not only did I read the introduction before beginning the story itself, but I went back and re-read it after finishing the novel, appreciating its contributions to my understanding even more.I particularly like Sabatini's own comments that are quoted in the introduction: "It is demanded of the writer of fiction, whether novelist or dramatist, that the events he sets forth shall be endowed with the quality of verisimilitude. What he writes need not necessarily be true; but, at least, it must seem to be true, so that it may carry that conviction without which interest fails to be aroused." This reminds me of Coleridge's admonition that the successful reader of poetry must enforce a "willing suspension of disbelief" in order to mentally join with the author in the shared experience of writing and reading. In the case of Captain Blood, suspending disbelief is in no way a challenge. This historical novel, skillfully intermixing the factual and the fanciful, the real and the imagined, the history and the fiction, is a believable yet romantic tale straight from the Golden Age of Piracy on the High Seas.What is amazing to me is that Captain Blood has, at the moment I write this, only about 20 or so reader reviews posted, while a modern novel I recently read, Ahab's Wife, has some 171 reviews! The pity of it is that Ahab's Wife is a poorly written, shallow, superficial sort of thing that will be hardly remembered 82 years from now, while Captain Blood remains as vigorous, exciting and enthralling a read as when it was first published 82 years ago. Why do we so often overlook the excellent-nay, say rather the outstanding-books t

Rafael Sabatini struggled for years as a writer before striking it big with his fabulous historical fiction stories. His breakthrough, according to the elaborate introduction written by Gary Hoppenstand, came with "Scaramouche: A Romance of the French Revolution" in 1921. Immediately following this novel was "Captain Blood: An Odyssey." These two books alone sealed Sabatini's success with an audience hungry for adventure tales. Hoppenstand argues that Sabatini's fictional endeavors fed an increasing appetite amongst low level industrial workers for stories that placed the little guy against the vested interests (in this case, a wronged man turns pirate and fights back against upper class nobles and landowners), but the story works just as well as an adventure story. Penguin Classics has graciously reprinted "Captain Blood" for the modern reader, and deserves a hearty round of applause for bringing this great yarn to our attention.The only thing Irishman Peter Blood wants is to be left alone. A trained physician living in Bridgewater, England in the 17th century, Blood spends his days healing the sick, smoking his pipe, and reminiscing about his ten-year stint as an adventurer throughout Europe. When the Duke of Monmouth organizes a rebellion against the tyranny of James Stuart, the King of England, Blood refuses to have anything to do with it despite suffering the abuse of those locals who wholeheartedly support the campaign. Blood's undoing comes when he assists an injured rebel after the royal army crushes the upstarts. Blood sees no contradiction in offering aid to an injured man, but the English soldiers who arrest him insist he is a traitor to the Stuart monarchy. They charge Blood for his "crimes" and sentence him to death by hanging. After commuting the sentence to ten years of slavery on the island of Barbados, the English transport Blood and a few rebels into the hands of the treacherous Colonel Bishop, a sugar plantation owner and a ruthless thug who sees nothing wrong with using stocks, whips, and other threatening devices to control his slaves. The story rapidly takes off from this point, as Blood escapes and embarks on a career as a pirate. He raids Spanish treasure ships in the Caribbean while pining for Bishop's pretty niece Arabella. Sabatini introduces us to a whole host of despicable characters, from Spanish Admiral Don Esteban, a French pirate named Lavasseur, and a French general named Rivarol who all present a threat to Peter at one time or another. Blood dupes them all through a series of adventures on sea and land. Through it all this Irish pirate never loses sight of his goals: to clear his name and return to England, and to woo Arabella Bishop.The most notable aspect of this novel is the writing style employed by Sabatini. This guy really knows how to tell a tale, and his language is rich, ornate, and deeply descriptive. His technique seems more 19th century than early 20th. The texture of Sabatini's language adds conside

When my family moved into a new home when I was only 13, we found that the previous tenants had left a copy of this novel behind. And that is how I first met Peter Blood, one of the most intriguing characters in fiction. I don't know how many times I read that book as a teenager, but years later I acquired another copy and have read it several more times. I have never been disappointed in it.Dr. Peter Blood would probably have been content to spend the rest of his life in his quiet medical practice and tending his geraniums, but when he treats a patient who happens to be a revolutionist, he is charged with treason, is almost hanged, and is instead sent as a bond slave to Jamaica. There he is sold to plantation owner Col. Bishop, whose daughter Arabella takes a special interest in him. When the crew of a Spanish ship sacks the town, Blood leads some of his fellow slaves as they steal aboard the ship and capture it. Thus Capt. Blood becomes a pirate, a very noble one, but one who is sought by both the Spanish and the English. He names the ship the Arabella, and he cannot forget the lovely lady whose slave he had been. The ensuing story of Blood's fantastic career is one of the best sea stories ever written, and the love story is equal to it. I can't imagine any reader not becoming thoroughly engrossed in this excellent novel. And if you like this one and want to meet a character who is almost Blood's equal, try Sabatini's great novel of the French Revolution, SCARAMOUCHE.