Sir Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) was a master of diverse talents in letters, a dedicated historian and historiographer, a well-read translator of foreign texts, and a talented poet. However, he is best remembered as one of the first authors, if not the first, of the historical novel.

Born to educated parents in Edinburgh, Scotland (Scott's father was a lawyer), Scott supplemented an education in law with a voracious appetite for history and a penchant for readings in a variety of languages. Scott joined the Scottish Bar in 1786, was appointed the Sheriff of County Selkirk in 1799, a title he kept for his entire life, and appointed Clerk to the Court of Session in Edinburgh in 1806. After a painful romance that ended unhappily, Scott married Charlotte Carpenter in 1797 in a happy alliance that lasted until her death in 1826.

Scott could have made a comfortable living off of his various legal occupations were it not for his ill-fated partnership in the perennially bankrupt Ballantyne Press. But turning to letters was more than just a means of supplementing his income, it was an expression of a childhood passion for history and the written word.

After some unremarkable work translating German Romantic poetry, Scott turned his attention to his native Scotland, compiling a collection of Scottish Border Ballads and writing a number of full-length poems including the highly successful "Marmion" (1808) and "The Lady of the Lake" (1810).

Facing financial troubles as a partner in a failed printing company, Scott's earnings as a writer (supplemented by an income as a county official) barely kept pace with his mounting debts. Facing competition in the field of narrative poetry, specifically from an ascendant Lord Byron, Scott turned to novel-writing. Unearthing an unfinished manuscript he'd abandoned nearly a decade earlier, Scott feverishly wrote the historical novel Waverly (1814). Set against the dramatic backdrop of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, Waverly showed Scott's gifts of characterization and lush description -- it was a smash among both critics and the public. Waverly's success yielded two successive volumes, Guy Mannering (1815) and The Antiquary (1816), which created a trilogy known now as the "Waverly Novels".

Scott's facility with historical description and thrilling action was matched by his singular ear for dialogue, specifically that of his native Scotland. His writing struck a deep cord, in Scotland and Britain and many successful novels followed: Rob Roy (1818) and The Heart of Midlothian (1818), Kenilworth (1821), Redgauntlet (1824) and the Talisman (1825). But, with the possible exception of the "Waverly Novels," Scott's most popular and most enduring novel is Ivanhoe (1819). Set in an England still divided after the Norman Conquest; between the Saxons and their Norman suzerains; between freemen and serfs. Ivanhoe weaves a powerful tale of chivalry and romance that also manages to draw on the legendary Robert of Locksley, also known as Robin the Hood. Ivanhoe also offers the gallant tensions of the maiden in peril and knights errant who serve as their champions.

Though his books were very popular, not to mention profitable, Scott could only stay one step ahead of his creditors. Shortly after his wife died in 1826, Scott's health began to decline, and in 1832 he died in his native Scotland. It was only after his death that his debts, which had at one time amounted to the staggering sum of 120,000, were finally paid off.

Scott's novels reflect a wistful view of a heroic past, particularly of Scotland, a past quickly disappearing with the advances of Industry and British unification. Having pulled together various forms of literary expression to form a singularly modern one - the historical novel - Scott remains preeminent in this field. His stamp on literary history remains undimmed.

For additional information see the Walter Scott Digital Archive

Sir Walter Scott (August 14, 1771 - September 21, 1832) was a prolific Scottish historical novelist popular throughout Europe.

Born in Edinburgh in 1771, the young Walter Scott survived a childhood bout of polio that would leave him lame in his right leg for the rest of his life. After studying law at Edinburgh University, he followed in his father's footsteps and became a lawyer in his native Scotland. Beginning at age 25 he started dabbling in writing, first translating works from German then moving on to poetry. In between these two phases of his literary career, he published a three-volume set of collected Scottish ballads, The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. This was the first sign of his interest in Scotland and history from a literary standpoint. In 1797 he married Charlotte Carpenter, with whom he had five children.

After Scott had founded a printing press, his poetry, beginning with "The Lay of the Last Minstrel" in 1805, brought him fame. He published a number of other poems over the next ten years, including the popular "Lady of the Lake" in 1810, portions of which (translated into German) found their way into Schubert's Ave Maria.

When the press became embroiled in pecuniary difficulties, Scott set out, in 1814, to write a cash-cow. The result was Waverley, a novel which did not name its author. It was a tale of the last Jacobite rebellion in the United Kingdom, the "Forty-Five", and a considerable success. There followed a large set of novels in next five years, each the same general vein. Mindful of his reputation as a poet, he maintained the anonymous habit he had begun with Waverley, always publishing the novels under the name "Author of Waverley" or attributed as "Tales of..." with no author. Even when it was clear that there would be no harm in coming out into the open he maintained the façade, apparently out a sense of fun. During this time the nickname "The Wizard of the North" was popularly applied to the mysterious best-selling writer. His identity as the author of the novels was widely rumoured, however.

The Scott Monument, Edinburgh
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In 1820 he broke away from writing about Scotland with Ivanhoe, a historical romance set in 12th-century England. It too was a runaway success and, as he did with his first novel, he unleashed a slew of books along the same lines. As his fame grew during this phase of his career, he was granted the title of baronet.

Beginning in 1825 he went into dire financial straits again, as his company nearly collapsed. That he was the author of his novels became general knowledge at this time as well. Rather than declare bankruptcy he placed his home, Abbotsford, and income into a trust belonging to his creditors, and proceeded to write his way out of debt. He kept up his prodigious output of fiction (as well as producing a non-fiction biography of Napoleon Bonaparte) through 1831. By then his health was failing, and he died at Abbotsford in 1832. Though not in the clear by then, his novels continued to sell, and he made good his debts from beyond the grave. He was buried in Dryburgh Abbey where nearby, fittingly, a large statue can be found of William Wallace -- one of Scotland's most romantic historical figures.

Scott was responsible for two major trends that carry on to this day. First, he popularized the historical novel; an enormous number of imitators (and imitators of imitators) would appear in the 19th century. It is a measure of Scott's influence that Edinburgh's central railway station, opened in 1854, is called Waverley Station. Second, his Scottish novels rehabilitated Highland culture after years in the shadows following the Jacobite rebellions. It is worth noting, however, that Scott was a Lowland Scot, and that his recreations of the Highlands were more than a little fanciful. It is known that he invented many clan tartans out of whole cloth, so to speak, for a visit by George IV to Scotland in 1822. Nevertheless, even though he is less popular in these days, the echoes of Waverley and its sequels reverberate still.

Scott was also responsible, through a series of pseudonymous letters published in the Edinburgh Weekly News in 1826, for retaining the right of Scottish banks to issue their own banknotes, which is reflected to this day by his continued appearance on the front of all notes issued by the Bank of Scotland.

Works:

• The Chase (translator) (1796)
• William and Helen, Two Ballads from the German (translator) (1796)
• Goetz of Berlichingen (translator) (1799)
• The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802-3)
• The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805)
• Ballads and Lyrical Pieces (1806)
• Marmion (1808)
• The Lady of the Lake (1810)
• The Vision of Don Roderick (1811)
• The Bridal of Triermain (1813)
• Rokeby (1813)
• The Border Antiquities of England and Scotland (1814-17)
• Waverley (1814)
• The Field of Waterloo (1815)
• Guy Mannering (1815)
• The Lord of the Isles (1815)
• The Antiquary (1816)
• Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk (1816)

• Tales of my Landlord, 1st series, The Black Dwarf and Old Mortality (1816)
• Harold the Dauntless (1817)
• Rob Roy (1818)
• Tales of my Landlord, 2nd series, The Heart of Midlothian (1818)
• Provincial Antiquities of Scotland (1819-26)
• Tales of my Landlord, 3rd series, The Bride of Lammermoor and A Legend of Montrose (1819)
• Ivanhoe (1820)
• Tales from Benedictine Sources, consisting of The Abbot and The Monastery (1820)
• Kenilworth (1821)
• Lives of the Novelists (1821-24)
• The Fortunes of Nigel (1822)
• Halidon Hall (1822)
• Peveril of the Peak (1822)
• The Pirate (1822)
• Quentin Durward (1823)
• Redgauntlet (1824)
• Sir Ronan's Well (1824)
• Tales of the Crusaders, consisting of The Betrothed and The Talisman (1825)
• Woodstock (1826)
• Chronicles of the Canongate, 1st series, The Highland Widow, The Two Drovers and The Surgeon's Daughter (1827)
• The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte (1827)
• Chronicles of the Canongate, 2nd series, The Fair Maid of Perth (1828)
• Religious Discourses (1828)
• Tales of a Grandfather, 1st series (1828)
• Anne of Geierstein (1829)
• History of Scotland, 2 vols. (1829-30)
• Tales of a Grandfather, 2nd series (1829)
• The Doom of Devorgoil (1830)
• Essays on Ballad Poetry (1830)
• Tales of a Grandfather, 3rd series (1830)
• Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft (1831)
• Tales of my Landlord, 4th series, Count Robert of Paris and Castle Dangerous (1832)
• The Bride of Lammermoor
• The Fair Maid of Perth
• The Lady of the Lake
• Young Lockinvar
• The Bishop of Tyre

External link

• Project Gutenberg e-texts of some of Walter Scott's works

Referenced By