Novel
Mutiny on the Bounty
Synopsis
A young man of good family sails in 1787 as a midshipman on an English ship sent to carry breadfruit plants from Tahiti to the West Indies; a friend of his father has entrusted him with compiling a dictionary of the Tahitian language. The commander cuts rations that are already spoiled, punishes minor faults harshly and accuses his men of stealing coconuts. After several months in Tahiti, where the midshipman learns the language from the inhabitants, the ship puts to sea again; one morning, the second in command seizes it and sets the commander adrift in a launch, with eighteen of his loyal men.
Context
Settled in Tahiti, where they had had a library brought out, the two authors work from photographic copies of the minutes of the mutineers' court martial. Their narrator is an invented character, freely inspired by a real midshipman, Peter Heywood. The book appears in Boston in October 1932 and opens a trilogy completed in 1934; the second volume follows the captain and his loyalists in the launch. It was brought to the screen in 1935 and in 1962.
Who it is for
A long novel of maritime adventure written by two hands, with an abundant nautical vocabulary; it can be read on its own, and two other volumes extend the story.
Prizes and reception
Praised on publication by the New York press for its fidelity to the eighteenth century, it enjoys a success that sealed the association of its two authors.
Sources for this page 6
The pages consulted to check this page.