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This Thing of Darkness (2005)

by Harry Thompson

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6903432,878 (4.31)52
This is an epic novel of sea-faring adventure set in the 19th century charting the life of Robert Fitzroy, the captain of `The Beagle` and his passenger Charles Darwin. It combines adventrure, emotion, ideas, humour and tragedy as well as illuminating the history of the 19th century. Fitzroy, the Christian Tory aristocrat, believed in the sanctity of the individual, but his beliefs destroyed his career and he committed suicide. Darwin, the liberal minor cleric doubts the truth of the Bible and develops his theory of evolution which is brutal and unforgiving in human terms. The two friends became bitter enemies as Darwin destroyed everything Fitzroy stood for.… (more)
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Hacia los confines del mundo
Harry Thompson
Publicado: 2005 | 765 páginas
Novela Aventuras Histórico

La teoría de la evolución de Charles Darwin supuso un verdadero hito en la historia del pensamiento. Al desplazar a Dios como creador único de la especie humana, el gran naturalista británico transformó radicalmente la visión que el hombre moderno tenía de sí mismo, iniciando una revolución conceptual cuyas consecuencias perviven hasta nuestros días. Y si bien el nombre de Darwin quedará inscrito para siempre en los anales de la Historia, menos conocida es la figura del escocés Robert FitzRoy, sin cuya participación la teoría de Darwin nunca hubiese visto la luz. Brillante oficial de la armada, FitzRoy es nombrado capitán del «Beagle» con tan sólo veintitrés años de edad. Aunque su misión es cartografiar las costas de Tierra del Fuego, él alberga otros proyectos igual de ambiciosos: demostrar la igualdad de los hombres de distintas razas, tesis contraria al espíritu de la época, y ratificar la teoría del origen del mundo tal como lo describe el libro del Génesis. En otoño de 1831, FitzRoy admite a bordo del «Beagle» al joven Charles Darwin, de veintiún años y aspirante a clérigo, que lo acompañará en la famosa expedición que conmocionaría el mundo. Pese a sus diferentes temperamentos, una sincera amistad unirá a los hombres, que comparten una idéntica pasión por la ciencia. Ambos persiguen denodadamente la verdad, aunque no tardan en comprobar que su concepto de verdad es radicalmente opuesto. Mientras FitzRoy defiende sus creencias religiosas y el «orden natural de las cosas», Darwin madura la teoría que lo haría famoso. Además de un vibrante relato sobre el épico viaje que impactó a la sociedad del siglo XIX, en pleno debate sobre el racismo y la difícil relación entre religión, ciencia y colonialismo, esta magnífica novela —finalista del Premio Booker— es sobre todo una crónica apasionante de la pugna entre dos intelectos excepcionales, a quienes la ciencia convirtió en adversarios irreconciliables, conduciendo a uno a la gloria y al otro a la destrucción.
  libreriarofer | Dec 13, 2023 |
I enjoyed this so much.

I didn't expect to get beyond 100 pages, because I generally dislike historical fiction and nautical themes bore me rigid. (It came recommended, so I wanted to give it a go.)

What, I think, negated my biases were my ability to ignore the nautical stuff (sail hoisting, hoving, things abeam and all that) and because I am interested in the history of science (which is what this is, from one perspective).

However, I stayed for many things.

Central is the FitzRoy/Darwin relationship, and that's done quite brilliantly. One man unbending in his faith, one wavering while trying to play both sides, then succumbing. And yet FitzRoy is now acknowledged as the first weather forecaster; he saw patterns in "the Lord's" plan. He could see his Lord didn't micro-manage the weather, but he couldn't accept that man evolved from apes, if you will. As an atheist, it was fascinating to watch these two giants grapple with their faith/biases.

But the main story is FitzRoy's. He was a quite extraordinary man and sailor, with strong humanitarian ethics that conflicted with the British expansionist empire building of the day. He was utterly out-politiced (despite being elected as a Member of Parliament, at one point).

This is a big book (750-pages) with 38 chapters. Each chapter is a mini-story, and I found that the best way to read it – a slice at a time, rather than belting through it.

There's so much here, if you can engage with what drives the main characters during an age so different to our own, with its overt racism and sexism. ( )
  ortgard | Sep 22, 2022 |
A most remarkable book, and not easy to classify, if it is historical fiction rather than a lightly fictionalised biography of two remarkable men. Recounting the voyages of HMS Beagle, Harry Thompson manages to cover huge perspectives, including the technological advances that permitted the exploration and navigation of the globe by Europeans; the prejudices of Europeans against the cultures they encounter, and the catastrophic damage caused in their wake (whether by disease, genocide, exploitation or misplaced benignity - no reader will forget the story of Jemmy Button); the pillaging of the planet; and at the root of it all the fundamental debate about what a human actually is. Although they applied their individual skills and expertise in very different ways, and came to very different conclusions, both Robert Fitzroy and Charles Darwin had learnt the importance of precision and thoroughness in their data collection, their conclusions causing fundamental changes in our understanding of the planet. They were a remarkable double act, and this book shows the debt each had to the other, and we have to both. ( )
  Roarer | Oct 2, 2021 |
What a story! There are certainly problems, especially the uneven writing. But for me, the characters and the story triumphed. Hard to believe that it is closely based on history. Thompson brings it to life.

> He adjusted his watch by twenty minutes, from Plymouth time to London time

> "If it is the chronometers, sir, then the Admiralty board have already written to me to explain their reasoning in limiting me to five instruments. I shall ensure that the other four are returned to stores immediately. Meanwhile I have taken the liberty, sir, of purchasing a further six chronometers at my own expense, for a total outlay of three hundred pounds. I feel that for absolute accuracy of observation, one cannot have enough — "

> "You did not fire," he ventured redundantly. "I had no intention of doing so. The damage to the chronometers from our own recoil would have been catastrophic.

> So the Chilean animals and the Mendocino animals, they are all quite different." Darwin reeled. This meant that the animals had come into being after the Andes had risen - and the Andes were still rising. So they could not, in fact, have been created by God on the sixth day. The two sets of animals were either new creatures, or — the terrifying enormity of the possibility raised the hairs aloft all the way down his spine - they had somehow transmuted, or metamorphosed, from original, common ancestors.

> How many lives have been saved by your system of storm warnings? Several hundred, I’ll wager. Fatalities have plummeted since you began issuing forecasts.

> Robert FitzRoy, it transpired, was utterly bankrupt. He had expended his entire fortune, over £6000 (equivalent to more than £400,000 in today’s money), in subsidizing the public purse for the benefit of others.

> The Argentinian government decided to open up the whole of Tierra del Fuego to sheep farming, and systematically wiped out the native guanaco population, which would otherwise have competed with the sheep for the limited amount of grass. The guanaco, of course, also sustained the local native population. Mass starvation followed …it was officially decided that the Fuegians themselves were "vermin", and should be eradicated. A reward of a pound was paid for each decapitated Fuegian head. Packs of armed gauchos on horseback descended on Tierra del Fuego … By 1908, only 170 pure-bred natives remained in the whole of Tierra del Fuego. By 1947, their number had dwindled to forty-three. Today there are none … The man who began the extermination progress, President Juan Manuel de Rosas, tore up the constitution of Argentina and made himself dictator for life. … he attempted to invade both Brazil and Uruguay at the same time. It was a vicious and senseless war: at one point, he ordered the execution in cold blood of five hundred Uruguayan prisoners-of-war (of Indian extraction, naturally). But Rosas had bitten off more than he could chew, and his armies were eventually defeated at the battle of Caseros. Where did the fallen dictator go? Why, to England, of course ( )
  breic | Jan 10, 2020 |
This book was great for a few reasons, firstly, technically it's fiction, and it's a great story with lots happening, great characters and interesting history. Also, it's all true, so it's great to learn a lot about Charles Darwin's life and other historical explorers without having to read dry non-fiction books. The fact that it's a true story but written as a novel makes it a great fun read for me and I recommend it to anyone that likes a bit of historical fiction. Only four stars as towards the end it does get a little slow, when Darwin is in his later years. ( )
  waltandmartha | Dec 3, 2019 |
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Epigraph
'This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine'
The Tempest,
Act V, Scene 1
Dedication
TO MY FATHER

without whose help this

book could never have been written
First words
Port Famine, Patagonia, 1 August 1828

An icy wind shouldered its way into the Straits of Magellan from the west, pummelling the cliff walls and scouring the rocks as it passed.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
This novel (Thompson's only work of fiction) was published in the UK as 'This Thing of Darkness' and in the US as 'To the Edge of the World'.
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This is an epic novel of sea-faring adventure set in the 19th century charting the life of Robert Fitzroy, the captain of `The Beagle` and his passenger Charles Darwin. It combines adventrure, emotion, ideas, humour and tragedy as well as illuminating the history of the 19th century. Fitzroy, the Christian Tory aristocrat, believed in the sanctity of the individual, but his beliefs destroyed his career and he committed suicide. Darwin, the liberal minor cleric doubts the truth of the Bible and develops his theory of evolution which is brutal and unforgiving in human terms. The two friends became bitter enemies as Darwin destroyed everything Fitzroy stood for.

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