C. S. Forester

From Philosopedia

Cecil Louis Troughton Smith (C. S. Forester) (27 August 1899 - 2 April 1966)

Forester, the English writer of the Hornblower novels and The African Queen (1935), wrote Warren Allen Smith concerning humanism:

I’m an ignorant person, and completely incapable of commenting on naturalistic humanism. Maybe I have a blind spot, a kind of tone-deafness with regard to philosophy.

David Langford, in SFX, considered Forester, like Horatio Hornblower, a closet agnostic:

• Part of the original Hornblower's attraction was his being such a self-doubting, introspective hero. He was always accusing himself of cowardice and then committing mad heroics in the heat of battle; or tormenting himself for being a rotten leader while his entire crew adored him. Other more or less sympathetic traits included quirky humour, mathematical brilliance, being a closet agnostic, and total tone-deafness: Forester made the poor man suffer through several musical performances.

{WAS, 20 February 1951}