Snarleyyow or The Dog Fiend : With original illustrations

by Frederick Marryat

Overview

Snarleyyow, one of the ugliest and most ill-conditioned curs which had ever been produced", with ears "torn to ribbons by the various encounters with dogs on shore, arising from the acidity of his temper", is the loyal companion of the wonderfully-named Cornelius Vanslyperken, lieutenant-commandant of a ship hunting smugglers in the English Channel. The tale takes in Anglo-Dutch relations, Jacobite politics, and the ongoing battle between Snarleyyow and the downtrodden sailor Smallbones, seen here in a plate from an early chapter in the book getting his revenge in first. 'Man bites dog', indeed.

Dog Fiend or Snarleyyow is The naval details in 'Snarleyyow' and Marryat's other shipboard tales have the authentic tang of the sea, a testament to the author's long and eventful naval career. Entering the Royal Navy as a midshipman in his early teens, he survived storms, malaria and close action in the Anglo-American War of 1812. He was one of the first people to see Napoleon Bonaparte on his deathbed in St Helena, sending a sketch in his dispatches back to Britain. Marryat's certificate of election to the Royal Society, dated 13 May 1819, records him as "a Gentleman well versed in Mineralogy and in other branches of science"; his proposers included Charles Babbage, a former schoolmate, and John Barrow of Admiralty fame.

Snarleyyow, along with several other Marryat novels, is located in our Lower Mezzanine stacks, under the classmark 'Language and Literature'. We're always happy to bring this material up to the main Library rooms for consultation by readers interested in the literary output of our Fellows; for those of you keen to discover more about the life of Captain Marryat, we also have a couple of biographies available to borrow from our modern loan collection. And if you're wondering about the eventual fate of Snarleyyow and the despicable Cornelius Vanslyperken? Well, it's on page 355, and it isn't pretty; further than that, I cannot say.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940161104620
Publisher:	Freeday Shop
Publication date:	09/19/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Frederick Marryat (MAR-ee-uht), born in Westminster, London, was the second son of Joseph Marryat, a wealthy banker and member of Parliament. He was not well educated, and both his home and school life made him miserable. After repeated attempts to run away—each attempt ending in capture and caning—he was allowed to join the Royal Navy at the age of fourteen. Strong in body and favored by social status, he saw combat in the Napoleonic and Burmese wars and soon became a commander. In 1819 he married Kate Shairp, daughter of a diplomat.

His articles against flogging and impressment were frowned on by the Admiralty, but his important Code of Signals became the standard manual of communication by the navy and maritime services for many years. Promoted to post-captain in 1825, his interests turned to writing fiction.

Marryat tried to be both man of fashion and man of letters. Always in debt, he worked rapidly. From 1832 to 1835 he edited Metropolitan Magazine, and during that period five of his best novels appeared in its pages. Influenced by Tobias Smollett, most of Marryat’s novels were comedies that often went into farce. The major theme was the initiation of a young man to the brutality and humor of life aboard a man-of-war.

Marryat’s significance is twofold. First, he was the earliest major novelist of naval life. Second, his novels helped build the patriotic belief in the Royal Navy as the world’s best fighting service and the myth that it was the English destiny to rule the globe. Marryat was a writer of good descriptive power, and his characters were sharp portraits of men who had responsibility but little ability and of youths who were loyal. His stories for children fit the mode of Victorian times: One should follow proper religious teachings and consider the home the center of life. Though he became an individualist because his father could not see him as an individual, he always wrote with an eye for the market; it was his catering to the mass market that caused Edgar Allan Poe to claim that his very success proved his mediocrity as a writer. However, his style is pleasingly simple, his humor often delightful, and his pathos genuine. Mr. Midshipman Easy is generally considered his best work.