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Novelist and Storyteller: The Life of C.S.Forester

John Forester

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C. S. Forester was a popular storyteller of the middle third of the twentieth century. In terms of popularity, at the height of his fame his works were regularly bought by the organization paying the highest prices in the world, the Saturday Evening Post; of the films made from his novels, one was given a royal premier with Princess (later the Queen) Elizabeth (Captain Horatio Hornblower), the other was still playing at the end of the century on screens both big and small (The African Queen). One of his characters was so well known that President Carter (a former naval officer), referring in his renomination acceptance speech to the last great Democrat politician, Hubert Horatio Humphrey, mispronounced his name as Hubert Horatio Hornblower.

While he wrote several mostly forgotten histories when he was young, two of his novels have been issued to military units by their commanders, Hitler to his officers in 1937 (The General), the commanding general of the United States Marines to his command in 1996 (Death to the French).

Forester's forte was in telling stories that people believed, either with the willing suspension of disbelief when they knew the story was fictional, or actually believed when they thought that he was telling the truth. In the technical sense of persuading the reader to believe, Forester's greatest successes were his two autobiographical accounts (Long Before Forty, The Hornblower Companion), each of which contained some elements of truth that concealed the important facts. Horatio Hornblower, his literary character most remembered today, is that which is most similar to his own, as improved by careful storytelling of the same kind as went into his autobiographical works and his private life.

The biography of a great storyteller who from childhood used his talent to obfuscate the facts, mislead his audience, and persuade them to do what he desired. He managed to mislead the press during his lifetime, and the readers of his autobiography after his death. Much of the public information about him is inaccurate; his real character is hidden.

This pdf ebook is a complete reproduction of the extensive 2 volume print edition with comprehensive index and will help you to know C.S.Forester's real character.

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