Template:Did you know nominations/Testimonies (novel)

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by BorgQueen (talk) 15:13, 27 April 2023 (UTC)

Testimonies (novel)

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... that years before Patrick O'Brian published Master and Commander, the first novel in his Aubrey–Maturin series, he had already used the surnames Aubrey and Maturin in his 1952 novel Testimonies? Source: Jessica Mann, "Fatal Triangle" [1] The Sunday Telegraph. pp. Books, Review, 10. Text reads "Now re-issued as Testimonies, it is O'Brian's first book, similar to the contemporary work only in the perfection of its prose and the brief appearance of the names Aubrey and Maturin, later re-used for his naval heroes."
- Reviewed:

Improved to Good Article status by MichaelMaggs (talk). Self-nominated at 17:13, 28 March 2023 (UTC). Post-promotion hook changes for this nom will be logged at Template talk:Did you know nominations/Testimonies (novel); consider watching this nomination, if it is successful, until the hook appears on the Main Page.

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral: Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook eligibility:

Cited:
Interesting: - n

QPQ: None required.

Overall: @MichaelMaggs: Good article but, I don't really find the hook all that interesting. Can you create a new hook? Onegreatjoke (talk) 20:16, 28 March 2023 (UTC)

Onegreatjoke, OK, will have a think tomorrow. The hook would I think be of significant interest to the many readers of Patrick O'Brian's majestic 20-volume Aubrey-Maturin series of historical novels, but I can understand that we may need something of more universal appeal. MichaelMaggs (talk) 21:12, 28 March 2023 (UTC)

It seems like it does this book a disservice to only mention it in comparison to O'Brien's later (and more famous) works. So, I'm thinking of hooks which treat the subject on its own. Maybe something like:

ALT1: ... that although Patrick O'Brien's 1952 novel Testimonies was reviewed poorly in his native England, it earned high praise in the United States?

ALT2: ... that Patrick O'Brien's 1952 novel Testimonies got reviews ranging from "clumsy in construction to the point of amateurishness" to "rare and beautiful"?

Both of those look good. My preference would be for ALT2, but I'd be happy with either. MichaelMaggs (talk) 08:31, 29 March 2023 (UTC)

Now that I look at it again, it seems kind of wordy. Let me suggest some shorter versions of ALT2:

ALT2a: ... that Patrick O'Brien's novel Testimonies got reviews ranging from "clumsy in construction to the point of amateurishness" to "rare and beautiful"?

ALT2b: ... that Patrick O'Brien's Testimonies got reviews ranging from "clumsy in construction to the point of amateurishness" to "rare and beautiful"?

ALT2c: ... that Testimonies got reviews ranging from "clumsy in construction to the point of amateurishness" to "rare and beautiful"?

with ALT2b being my favorite. -- RoySmith (talk) 13:38, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

ALT2b works for me. MichaelMaggs (talk) 15:16, 30 March 2023 (UTC)

@Onegreatjoke: status report? theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (she/her) 18:27, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

I think the new hooks are fine. Onegreatjoke (talk) 13:52, 27 April 2023 (UTC)