Literary Works By Garneray
Garneray wrote epic depictions of his adventures, becoming one of the precursors of the maritime novel of adventure.
During his stay in Rouen, he published articles about his sailing and captivity days. He offered these texts to the Ministry of Education in 1847 "for edification of the youth", which politely rebuffed him. His posthumous celebrity stems from the fad of more or less apocryphal memoirs of combatants of Revolution and of Empire which became popular in the 1860s. Garneray's memoirs were published in three volumes as Voyages, Aventures et Combats,Mes Pontons, and Scenes Maritimes. They were probably partly rewritten by professional writers, notably Édouard Corbière, introducing spectacular but irrealistic elements:
- Lhermitte being poisoned in Mauritius, a thesis often repeated in biographies of Lhermitte; in fact, from 1798 until his death, he suffered from a tropical disease, probably an acute form of Malaria.
- the obfuscated story of Kernau's death
- Garneray being personally involved in incidents which he probably described without being an actor, like the shipwreck of the Amphitrite
Richard Rose's detailed analysis of the materials used in the writing of Mes Pontons (The Floating Prison 2003, 2012) shows the general unreliability of Garneray as a writer of verifiable history. Hence, his memoirs are not now considered to be a serious historical source. However, Sentant fort le goudron and Mes Pontons do constitute testimonies of everyday life in the navy of the time.
Various versions were published as
- Corsaire de la République, Voyages, adventures and combat, Paris, Phébus, 1984; Rééd. Payot, 1991
- Le Négrier de Zanzibar, Voyages, adventures and combat, Paris, Phébus, 1985; Rééd. Payot, 1992
- Un Corsaire au bagne. Mes pontons, Paris, Phébus, 1985; Rééd. Payot, 1992
- Un Corsaire de quinze ans ,
- Un Marin de Surcouf
- Les Naufragés du Saint Antoine
- The Floating Prison (translated by Richard Rose) Conway Maritime Press, 2003.
- The Floating Prison (revised e-book version, translated by Richard Rose) Otterquill Books, 2012.
Read more about this topic: Ambroise Louis Garneray
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