:: day two - books for the masses ::

hello, everyone! today is the second day of ISWSW, and we'll be focusing on the novels of sir walter scott (we covered the fact that his proliferation spilled into other genres, yesterday). I'll be punctuating facts with my opinions {in braces}, and sometimes skipping the facts altogether. let us begin!

{his five best-known novels}

- ivanhoe (1819)
       the story of two rich girls -- one saxon, one jew -- and a disinherited knight whom both of them fall in love with; threads of chivalry, tournaments, death, love, evil schemes, and mercy vs. justice run throughout. lots of gallantry and lots of knights, for those of you susceptible to iron regimentals. click for a sparknotes summary.

- waverley (1814)
       a young, romantic englishman is forced to choose sides between the reigning king and a claimant to the throne during the 1745 jacobite rebellion. betrayal and danger dog his steps... and flora and alice dog his thoughts; because it wouldn't be scott without a love interest. or two. also, evan dhu maccombich goes around being fantastic. scroll down here for a synopsis. 

- old mortality (1816)
       I've never read it, but I plan to, so you're on your own. try wikipedia.

- the bride of lammermoor (1819)
       having never read this one, but planning to also, I can only say I've heard it runs along the lines of "what if juliet had been forced to marry paris?" (I can also say I'm dying of curiosity about it.) try this summary.

- rob roy (1817)
       the swash-buckling-ish-but-not-really tale of frank osbaldistone, in conjunction with the 1715 uprising and rob roy (dingdingding!). sent in disgrace to his uncle's ancestral home, frank becomes interested in the fascinating di vernon (but of course), yet disturbed by his cousin/her tutor rashleigh, who has a beautiful voice but ulterior motives. frank ends up traveling through scotland, helped by a not-so-mysterious man who turns out to be The Rob Roy Himself, and there's lots of blood and claymore-waving with a very walter scott ending. I would suggest you just read it. 

these are certainly 5 well-known scotts (hahaha, that was almost a pun), but the heart of midlothian (1818) and guy mannering (1815) are pretty well-known, too, so don't take my word for The Definitive Five.

{something I find incredibly impressive about sir walter is how many books he published in so short a time. ivanhoe is arguably his best-known, period, and it went to the press in 1819 -- the same year as both the bride and montrose, which was only a year after midlothian. how many authors today... oh, I can't even compare. scott may be considered florid or wordy or fantastical by some people, but he was a good writer, and -- there, he's beat most modern authors hollow already.

just kidding. he was a good writer, he really invented historical fiction, and his works were produced in shockingly short amounts of time, yet they kept their quality. I think scott was a genius of the first water.}

{popularity}

waverley was an extremely popular book; by the time scott's "collected" works were available, it had sold over 50,000 copies {and for 183?, when you couldn't just one-click on amazon, that's pretty fantastic}. apparently, even the fortunes of nigel (1822 -- never heard of it? case in point) sold out its initial printing on publication day.*

his novels were translated into several other languages, including portuguese, greek, italian, and german {imagine the cost and the time it would take to translate and print and ship overseas all those books -- in the 19th century, no less! -- and they still sold}. 

scott said that, "no work of the imagination, proceeding from the mere consideration of a certain sum of copy-money, ever did, or ever will succeed."** {I love him for this. how many serieses have you thought you'd love -- "the first book was sooooooo goooood!!" -- and you love the second, and perhaps the third, all for the first's sake; but by the time the fourth and the fifth come along, like clockwork, the plot/character/belief-suspension is wearing thin, and you donate 'em all to the library in disgust? I hate it when that happens. sometimes you can even tell by #2. "crap, now it's just the royalties keeping this game going." so I love how scott recognized that money can't keep a writer producing well, and as far as I can see, he produced to produce, not to become rich and famous (though he did become rich, and then rich and famous, and then famous and bankrupt, when you could technically say he 'wrote for money' since he was writing to pay off his debts. but that's beside the point). when you finally come across an author whose books seem untainted by mercenary speculations, you know those are books to treasure (I'm thinking, like, trenton lee stewart, jeanne birdsall, elizabeth enright...). sir walter scott wrote 20+ of those treasures.}

fun activity of the day: see if you can name all of scott's works... in 10 minutes.

stuart kelly said of scott that, "he is not just still readable, he is enjoyable and even breath-catching, but you will need to learn to love a certain slowness." {this is a perfect encapsulation of scott's style -- what makes him difficult, but also what makes him brilliant.} 

well, what are you waiting for? go read redgauntlet!

footnotes/sources:
* stuart kelly, "walter scott, the original number one." <www.bookforum.com/inprint/018_02/7783>. accessed 14 august 2013.
** sam mckinstry and marie fletcher, "the personal account books of sir walter scott." <accountingin.com...>, referencing w. scott's biography. accessed 14 august 2013.