Mutiny on the Bounty (novel)
Mutiny on the Bounty is the title of the 1932 novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall,[1] based on the mutiny against Lieutenant William Bligh, commanding officer of the Bounty in 1789. It has been made into several films and a musical. It was the first of what became The Bounty Trilogy, which continues with Men Against the Sea, and concludes with Pitcairn's Island.
First edition dustcover | |
Author | Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | The Bounty Trilogy |
Genre | Historical novel |
Publisher | Little, Brown and Company |
Publication date | October 1932 |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Followed by | Men Against the Sea |
Plot introduction
The novel tells the story through a fictional first-person narrator by the name of Roger Byam, based on a crew member Peter Heywood. [2] Byam, although not one of the mutineers, remains with the Bounty after the mutiny. He subsequently returns to Tahiti, and is eventually arrested and taken back to England to face a court-martial. He and several other members of the crew are eventually acquitted.
Characters in Mutiny on the Bounty
- Roger Byam – main protagonist, loosely based on life of midshipman Peter Heywood; but with differences-in the book it is claimed that Byam's only living relative was his mother who died of shock after William Bligh had accused her son of being an active mutineer; in fact Heywood had several siblings; his mother survived his court-martial- although his sister Nessy Heywood did die a year after his aquital
- William Bligh – Lieutenant and commander of the Bounty
- Fletcher Christian – eventual mutineer
Film, TV and theatrical adaptations
- In the Wake of the Bounty (1933) (notable as the first film to introduce Errol Flynn to movie audiences, as Fletcher Christian)
- Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
- Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
- A musical based on the same story appeared in the West End during the 1980s. It was written by and starred David Essex.
Other
An earlier novel, Les Révoltés de la Bounty (The Mutineers of the Bounty), was published by Jules Verne in 1879. [3]
See also
References
- Daniel Brotzel.Collaboration.Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. September 23, 2019.
- Simon Winchester.The true story of the Mutiny on the Bounty.The Daily Telegraph.December 7, 2015.
- Michael Pembroke.The Bounty review: How Peter FitzSimons and Alan Frost see the mutiny.The Sydney Morning Herald.December 7, 2018.
Further reading
- Caroline Alexander, The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty, Viking Penguin, 2003, hardcover, 512 pages, ISBN 0-670-03133-X
- William Bligh, A Narrative of the Mutiny on board His Majesty's ship Bounty; and the subsequent voyage of part of the crew, in the ship's boat, from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch Settlement in the East-Indies., London, 1790–94.
- Karl Ernst Alwyn Lorbach, 'Conspiracy on the Bounty: Bligh's Convenient Mutiny', printed University of Queensland, 2012, hardcover/Kindle/ePub, 366 pages, ISBN 978-0-9806914-1-2.
External links
- Mutiny on the Bounty at Faded Page (Canada)
- Hussey, John (July 2006). "History - Hollywood Style". geocities.com. Archived from the original on 2009-10-27. Commentary on the novel and how it influenced the film(s) and popular perception of the events; comparison between three of the films.
- Nordhoff, Charles; Hall, James Norman (2008) [1932]. Mutiny on the Bounty. Project Gutenberg Australia. OCLC 665035113.