Posthumous Reputation
By the time of his death Gordon was largely forgotten, and his only modern biography trades heavily on the thesis that his career was the principal model for that of C. S. Forester’s hero Horatio Hornblower. It is clear that Forester was familiar with the facts of Gordon’s life, and it may be significant that in his history of the War of 1812 he very nearly avoids mentioning Gordon at all while giving full details of most of the other officers involved. There are indeed many parallels between Gordon’s career and Hornblower’s, but many divergences also, and it remains likely that the exploits of Forester’s hero are an amalgam of those of several leading officers of the Napoleonic War period, notably including Thomas Cochrane (whose exploits were also used by Patrick O'Brian in his Aubrey–Maturin series).
Read more about this topic: James Gordon (Royal Navy Officer)
Famous quotes containing the words posthumous and/or reputation:
“One must be a living man and a posthumous artist.”
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