| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
MacLean was the son of a minister, and learnt English as his second language after his mother tongue Scottish Gaelic. He was born in Glasgow but spent much of his childhood and youth in Daviot, near Inverness. He joined the Royal Navy in 1941, serving in World War II as a torpedo man and being captured by the JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honshese and tortured. After the war, he studied English in the University of GlasgowThe University of Glasgow is the largest of the three universities in Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded in 1451 by papal bull of Pope Nicholas V, at the suggestion of King James II, giving Bishop William Turnbull permission to add the university to the ci, graduating in 1953, and then worked as a teacher.
While in the University, MacLean began writing short stories for extra income and won a competition in 1954 with the maritime story Dileas. The publishing company CollinsCollins was a Scottish publishing company founded by William Collins at Glasgow in 1819. He was a schoolmaster and his aim was to publish religious and educational books. In the 20th century, Collins became known as publishers of dictionaries, bibles and asked him for a novel and he responded with H.M.S. Ulysses, based on his own war experiences. It was a great success and MacLean was soon able to devote himself entirely to writing war stories, spy stories and other adventures.
In the early 1960s, MacLean published two novels under the pseudonym "Ian Stuart" in order to prove that the popularity of his books was due to their content rather than to his name on the cover. They sold well, but one must remember that MacLean made no attempt to change his style and his fans may easily have recognized him behind the Scottish pseudonym. MacLean's books eventually sold so well that he had to move to SwitzerlandThe Swiss Confederation or Switzerland is a landlocked federal state in central Europe, with neighbours Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. The country has a strong tradition of political and military neutrality, but also of international c as a tax exile. He also ran hotel business in England.
MacLean's later books were not as well received as the earlier ones and, in an attempt to keep his stories in keeping with the time, he sometimes lapsed into overly improbable plots. He also struggled constantly with alcoholism which eventually brought about his death in MunichMunich ( German: Munchen ) is the state capital of the German Bundesland of Bavaria. Behind Berlin and Hamburg, Munich is Germany's third largest city with a population of about 1. 261 million ( as of 2003). It is located on the river Isar. History The se in 1987. He was married twice and had three sons with his first wife.
Compared to other thriller writers of the time, such as Ian FlemingIan Lancaster Fleming ( May 28, 1908 August 12, 1964) was a British author, best remembered for the James Bond series of novels. Biography Born in Mayfair, London, Ian Fleming was the younger brother of the travel writer, Peter Fleming. He was educated at, MacLean's books are exceptional in one way at least: they are short of sex and romance because MacLean thought that such diversions merely serve to slow down the action. Indeed he lets little to hinder the flow of events in his books, making his heroes fight against seemingly unbeatable odds and often pushing them to the limits of their physical and mental endurance. MacLean's heroes are usually calm, cynical men entirely devoted to their work and often carrying some kind of secret knowledge. A characteristic twist is that one of the hero's closest cooperators turns out a traitor.
Nature, especially the sea and the arctic north, plays an important part in MacLean's stories, and he used a variety of exotic parts of the world as settings to his books. Only one of them, When Eight Bells Toll, is set in his native Scotland. MacLean's best books are probably those in which he was able to make use of his own direct knowledge of warfare and seafare such as H.M.S. Ulysses which is now considered a classic of naval fiction.
MacLean published 28 novels and a collection of short stories, as well as books about T. E. LawrenceThomas Edward Lawrence ( August 16, 1888 May 19, 1935), also known as Lawrence of Arabia and (apparently, among his Arab allies) Aurens or El Aurens, became famous for his role as a British liaison officer during the Arab Revolt of 1916 1918. His fame as and James Cook. He also wrote screenplays, some of them based on his novels and others later novelized by other writers. Around 1980, he was commissioned by an American movie production company to write a series of story outlines to be subsequently produced as movies. Although he did write about a fictitious UN organisation, the books were later completed by others. Among these are "Hostage Tower" by John Denis and Death Train by Alastair MacNeill. Alistair MacLean was awarded a Doctorate of Literature at the University of Glasgow in 1983.