Sir Walter Scott

Denerick

Has anyone else ever read him? Recently finished The Talisman, and am motoring through Rob Roy.

His style is fantastic, though its important to remember people had greater attention spans back then. My problem is that I don't know what to make of him; envious of his supreme command of the English language, I feel a little disquieted by his supposedly simplistic plot patterns. This obviously doesn't fit in with the modern focus on irrelevant and chaotic storylines which we seem to lap up in fitful displays of pseudo intellectualism. On a serious note, I have only read the Talisman in full - one of his less well known works - and it details the end of the third crusade. It portrays Richard the Lionheart as his name would suggest, bullish and brave, and Saladin as a mysterious Oriental renaissance man. The hero of the novel is of course a Scotsman.

I admire Scott's ability to tug at strands of a storyline, and slowly unravel them together, at a pace the reader can comfertably keep up with. In short, what he has written can be interpreted on two distinct levels; 1) The world he is writing and 2) The world he is writing from.

I don't feel comfertable analysing him any further, as I haven't read enough of him, but I do intend to read Invanhoe and Heart of Midlothian after Rob Roy, having heard very good things about them.

Anyone else ever read him? Share your experiences of reading this man. My only regret is that I didn't discover him earlier.

Lizzykins

I read Ivanhoe absolutely years ago.So long that I can't remember anything else but that I loved the story. Reading your post has made me want to read some more of his work.