2.1 The founder of the historical novel genre, Sir Walter Scott.
This is the first novel novel in which Scott tried a
specifically English
topic
. However, it should be noted that even within the pretense of
giving a historical character to the work, the author himself
acknowledges that he has taken certain
liberties
in that sense (mixture
of fictional and historical characters). These are shown in the enmity
between Saxons and Normans at the time in question, as well as other
environmental details. This does not diminish the importance of the
novel, but rather
Scott's narrative agility ensures reader interest
.
Perhaps the most attractive characters are the purely imaginary ones
like
Ivanhoe
, his beloved
Lady rowena
or the beautiful
Hebrew
Rebecca
, Daughter of
Isaac of York
. They are also
Friar
Tuck
, jovial and fighter, or
Wamba
, the faithful and devoted jester
of
Cedric the Saxon
, Ivanhoe's father. And next to them
appear
legendary characters
like the famous Robin Hood and
real
like
kings
and brothers
Richard the Lionheart and Juan Sin Tierra
, which
contribute to increase the interest of the novel.
Walter did not like the tedious work in the office of his father; the
paperwork only made the young man sad and dull. However, young
Scott still tried to somehow benefit from the routine work. To mix up the
usual gloomy days, the young man tried to use ink and pen to portray
fantastic adventure worlds. Also, by filling up various legal documents
and doing the paperwork, Walter received a small salary which he spent
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on favorite books.
At the insistence of his parent, Walter chose to practice law as
his career
path. In 1792, the young man passed the exams at the University and
received a law degree. Since then, Scott was
considered a respectable
man in society with a prestigious profession and education.
Sir Walter Scott, like
Franz Kafka
, did not believe that the literary field
can be regarded as the primary income in life and did not want to
acquire fame and recognition – to put it mildly, Scott shunned popularity
and treated writing without zealotry. Writing for Scott was nothing more
than a favorite pastime that brightened up the lonely hours
of life and
brought new emotions and colors to the canvas of being. Scott’s first
work as a novelist was the novel
Waverley
, published anonymously in
1814, whose plot is set in the last
Jacobite uprising , an uprising that
started in Scotland in 1745 and was aimed at restoring the House of
Stuart
against the House of Hanover , which ruled London. The novel
immediately caused a furore; with it, Scott practically founded the
modern historical novel, at least for the English-speaking world. In rapid
succession, he wrote in the following 10 years a wealth of other
historical novels and stories with Scottish themes that is hardly
surpassed in the annals of literary history:
Guy Mannering
,
Old
Mortality
,
Rob Roy
and more, all of them (and later) published without
his name, only with the indication “
Author of Waverley
” or under a
pseudonym.
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