Much of it was poisoned by the French Revolution, by the English Revolution that never quite happened, and by 20 years of Napoleonic war and even at its best it existed among iniquities, brutalities, and discomforts we cannot imagine bearing today. But it existed nonetheless, and in O Brian s commonsensical sailors, as in Austen s clear-eyed girls, you can discern its attractions. But you can also discern in O Brian s tales a secrecy for secrecy s sake, a hint of things untold, and a claim of knowledge and life not legitimately owned. We might not have noticed it without being pointed to it by the recent revelations about the author. But once it s been spotted, it can t be entirely forgotten, and it spoils, just a little, the truth of the writing with the lies of the writer.
Books really are responsible for their authors.
J. Bottum is books and arts editor of the Weekly Standard and a Crisis contributing editor.