Biography of Walter. Walter Scott - Biography - life and work

Sir Walter Scott (Eng. Walter Scott; August 15, 1771, Edinburgh - September 21, 1832, Abbotsford, buried in Dryburgh) - the world famous British writer, poet, historian, collector of antiquities, lawyer, Scot by birth. Considered the founder of the historical novel genre.

Born in Edinburgh, the son of a wealthy Scottish lawyer Walter John (1729-1799) and Anna Rutherford (1739-1819), daughter of a professor of medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He was the ninth child in the family, but when he was six months old, only three survived. In a family of 13 children, six survived.

In January 1772, he fell ill with infantile paralysis, lost the mobility of his right leg and remained forever lame. Twice - in 1775 and in 1777 - he was treated in the resort towns of Bath and Prestonpans.

His childhood was closely associated with the Scottish Borders, where he spent time on his grandfather's farm in Sandinow, as well as at his uncle's house near Kelso. Despite his physical handicap, already in early age struck others with a lively mind and a phenomenal memory.

In 1778 he returned to Edinburgh. From 1779 he studied at an Edinburgh school, in 1785 he entered Edinburgh College. In college, he became interested in mountaineering, became stronger physically, and gained popularity among his peers as an excellent storyteller.

He read a lot, including ancient authors, was fond of novels and poetry, he emphasized the traditional ballads and legends of Scotland. Together with his friends, he organized the "Poetic Society" in college, studied German and got acquainted with the work of German poets.

The year 1792 becomes important for Scott: at the University of Edinburgh, he passed the bar exam. Since that time, he has become a respectable person with a prestigious profession and has his own legal practice.

In the early years of independent law practice, he traveled a lot around the country, collecting folk legends and ballads about Scottish heroes of the past. He became interested in translations of German poetry, anonymously published his translations of Burger's ballad "Lenora".

In 1791 he met his first love, Williamina Belches, the daughter of an Edinburgh lawyer. For five years, he tried to achieve reciprocity with Williamina, but the girl kept him in limbo and in the end chose William Forbes, the son of a wealthy banker, whom she married in 1796. Unrequited love was the strongest blow for the young man; particles of the image of Villamina subsequently appeared more than once in the heroines of the writer's novels.

In 1797 he married Charlotte Carpenter (Charlotte Charpentier) (1770-1826).

In life he was an exemplary family man, a good, sensitive, tactful, grateful person; loved his Abbotsford estate, which he rebuilt into a small castle; he was very fond of trees, domestic animals, a good feast in the family circle.

In 1830, he suffers the first stroke of apoplexy, which paralyzed his right arm. In 1830-1831 Scott experiences two more apoplexy.

Currently, a museum of the famous writer is open on the estate of Scott Abbotsford.

Unlike the romantics, who sighed about the past, with which they did not have (using their own favorite word) an organic succession, Walter Scott (1771-1832), a Scottish baronet, rightfully considered himself a particle of history: his family annals were included in the annals of the national . In addition, through self-education, he acquired extensive historical and ethnographic knowledge, collected folklore, and collected antiquarian books and manuscripts. The grandson of a doctor, the son of a lawyer, he himself became a lawyer, took up the legal profession, and then, having married, received the position of sheriff, whose duties he performed until the end of his days. That is why, although Walter Scott showed a penchant for creativity early, he first published his poems only at the age of thirty-three, and his fiction at the age of forty-two. But very soon he seemed to overtake his predecessors.

Is it true, the first literary experience published by Walter Scott in 1796, a translation of Burger's Lenore, went almost unnoticed, but when in 1802, at the time of the lively discussion of the Lyrical Ballads, Walter Scott published his Songs of the Scottish Border, and in 1805 the poem The Song of the Last Minstrel, he a favorable reception was given, and the new poet became the recognized leader of a special kind of poetry. Readers distinguished the authentic folklore and ethnographic atmosphere of Walter Scott's poems from the decorative, fantastically mysterious coloring of the works of Wordsworth and Coleridge.

Walter Scott's legacy is great: a massive volume of poetry, 41 volumes of novels and short stories, 12 volumes of letters, 3 volumes of diaries. Among his ballads and poems, in addition to those already mentioned, the most significant are "Castle Smalholm" (1802), translated by V. A. Zhukovsky, "Marmion" (1808), "Lady of the Lake" (1810) and "Rockby" (1813). His historical novels fall into two groups according to national themes - “ Scottish of which the most important are Waverley (1814), Guy Mannering (1815), The Puritans (1816), Rob Roy (1818), and English”: among them the most famous are Ivanhoe (1819), Kenilworth (1821), Woodstock (1826). Some of his novels are based on the history of other countries, France or Byzantium: "Quentin Dorward" (1823), "Count Robert of Paris" (1832) - but the plots in them still intersect with English history. Some novels by Walter Scott himself were combined into cycles - "Tavernkeeper's Tales" (they included "The Puritans", "The Black Dwarf", "The Legend of Montrose", etc.); "Tales of the Crusaders" ("Betrothed", "Talisman"). "Grandfather's Tales" was conceived as a conversation with a grandson about the history of Scotland, but then became a regular chronicle of historical events. The only "modern" novel among Scott's books is St. Ronan's Waters. Among other historical and critical works of Walter Scott, one should name the biographies of Dryden, Swift, Napoleon compiled by him, articles about contemporaries, various autocharacteristics in the form of prefaces to his own works. In total, Walter Scott has edited and published with commentary more than 70 books by prominent English writers. Walter Scott's diverse friendly and business ties became part of the history of literature, in particular, with Burns, Byron, with the Irish novelist Mary Edgeworth, whom he named among his predecessors, with contemporaries from abroad, including Goethe and Fenimore Cooper. For us, of course, Walter Scott's interest in Russia, his correspondence friendship with Denis Davydov, his enthusiastic attitude towards Ataman Platov, his relationship with representatives of Russian culture Praskovya Golitsyna, Pyotr Kozlovsky and other enlightened Russian travelers who met him in England are of great importance. and in France.

Walter Scott became a legend during his lifetime. Pilgrims flocked to his Abbatsford estate on the borders of Scotland. His novels and some poems diverged on the book market beyond any competition. Nevertheless, enjoying universal recognition, having tremendous creative and material success, the writer found himself in difficult circumstances in the mid-1920s. As the head of a publishing firm that had a bank debt, he decided to pay for everyone. It cost him incredible labor, three apoplectic strokes, the last of which took away his memory, and he died, not realizing that he remained in debt. Soon, however, Walter Scott was symbolically rewarded: in 1837-1838. his two-volume biography was published, which, in turn, became a bestseller, the success of which was surpassed in those years by only one book - The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.

Question number 1. Social prerequisites for the emergence of historical genres in post-revolutionary Europe. Political and literary views of W. Scott. Mastering the experience of W. Shakespeare and D. Defoe. Characteristics of early work: Songs of the Scottish Border, historical poems Lochinvar, Battle of Sempach and Nora's Oath.

1) As a result of the French Revolution of 1789, the revolutionary wars, the rise and fall of Napoleon, interest in history awakened among the masses. At this time, the masses received an unprecedented historical experience. During two or three decades (1789-1814), each of the peoples of Europe experienced more upheavals and upheavals than in previous centuries. There is a growing conviction that history really exists, that it is a process of continuous change, and, finally, that history intrudes directly into the personal life of each person, determines this life. What had previously been experienced only by a few people, mostly people with adventurous inclinations - to travel around and get to know the whole of Europe, or at least a significant part of it - now, during the years of the Napoleonic wars, became accessible and even necessary for hundreds of thousands and millions. people from various segments of the population of almost all European countries. Thus, a concrete opportunity arises for the masses to understand that their entire existence is historically conditioned, to see in history something that invades everyday life - and, consequently, something that every person cares about. On such a social basis, the historical novel created by Walter Scott arose.

2) According to their own political views W. Scott was a conservative, tory, a supporter of a "just monarchy", a writer who, with all his sympathy for the suffering of the common people, was a staunch opponent of the revolution.

In December 1819, Scott wrote with melodramatic pathos about the prospect civil war- "people go about their usual business with muskets in their hands" - and inflated himself to the point that the horror of the "rabble" and hatred of her did not allow him to even to a small extent see the obvious: they were his fellow Scots who suffered from intolerable living conditions. “Up to fifty thousand scoundrels are ready to rebel between Tyne and Vir,” he reported to Brother Tom on December 23, 1819. In the end, there was no civil war, but Scott wrote in a zealous belligerence about preparing to recruit volunteers to patrol with them throughout the region.

All of the above paints Scott as a stupid reactionary of the most extreme sense. In reality, however, his political and social views, which remained almost unchanged throughout his mature life, were well thought out and, in a certain sense, insightful. The way the Industrial Revolution treated the working people terrified and disgusted him., and Marx himself could agree with his reasoning on this issue. The Industrial Revolution destroyed the organic community of people in which Scott deeply believed. He was paternalist; he believed in the rights and obligations of property; he believed in the dignity of the individual. Two passages from Scott's letters from 1820 unambiguously reveal his point of view. He is in favor of arming the poor if they can be relied upon, for the most important thing is to prevent a class war, "that most monstrous of evils, servile war, in the spirit of Jack Cade."

"Natural lords" can make us cringe, and Scott, although he portrayed ridiculous and stupid landowners in the pages of his novels, contrasting them with reasonable, dignified peasants, did indeed believe, if we talk about his political convictions, in the natural order of things, putting the landowner (ideally generous, educated and understanding the full measure of his responsibility) at the head of the local community.

Such a deep understanding of the truth puts Scott on a par with the "prophets" of the Victorian era, Carlyle, Ruskin and William Morris. It must not be forgotten that the Industrial Revolution began in Scotland (on the banks of the Clyde) in the days of Scott's youth. Before leaving Scott the politician, it must be added that Scott the man was by nature humane and generous, kind and considerate to his Abbotsford tenants, and had a great gift for inspiring the devotion and love of those who depended on him.

Studying the past of England, Walter Scott tries to find a "middle" way, to find the "middle" between the fighting extremes. From the war of the Saxons with the Normans, the English people arose, in which both warring peoples merged and ceased their separate existence; the "glorious" reign of the Tudor dynasty, especially Elizabeth I, emerged from the bloody war of the Scarlet and White Roses. The wars that unfolded during the years of the English bourgeois revolution, after long ebb and flow, including the "glorious revolution" of 1688, subsided contemporary English society. Scott accepts this progress. He is a patriot, he is proud of the history of his people, and this is one of the necessary prerequisites for creating a real historical novel which makes the past truly depicted near and dear to contemporaries.

3) W. Scott came to the historical novel by carefully considering its aesthetics, starting from the well-known and popular in his time gothic and antique novels. The Gothic novel instilled in the reader an interest in the place of action, which means that it taught him to correlate events with the specific historical and national soil on which these events developed. In the Gothic novel, the dramatic nature of the narrative is enhanced, elements of the plot are even introduced into the landscape, but the most important thing is that the character received the right to independence of behavior and reasoning, since he also contained a particle of the drama of historical time. The antique novel taught Scott to be attentive to the local color, to reconstruct the past professionally and without mistakes, recreating not only the authenticity of the material world of the era, but mainly the originality of its spiritual appearance.

Rejecting rationalism enlighteners of the 18th century. and their ideas about human nature, Scott painted in his historical novels pictures of the life, customs of various classes of English and European society of past eras. At the same time, he also managed to touch upon many problems of contemporary sociology, morality, and political justice, calling for the establishment of a lasting peace between states, condemning the perpetrators of unjust wars.

Speaking of Scott as an innovative artist, O. Balzac wrote: “Walter Scott elevated the novel to the level of philosophy of history ... He brought into it the spirit of the past, united it with drama, dialogue, portrait, landscape, description; included both the miraculous and the everyday, these elements of the epic, and reinforced poetry with the ease of the simplest dialects.

4) Shakespeare, as we already know, dramatized chronicle and chronicle information, his historical plays are populated mainly by well-known, real-life persons, among whom, as an exception, fictional characters appear. Walter Scott changes the proportions in the arrangement of real and fictitious figures. For him, the foreground and most of the narrative is occupied by heroes created by him, while historical figures fade into the background, become episodic. At Shakespeare ahead was a tradition, forcing by its authority to believe what was depicted in the play; Scott unfolded the chronicle as if from the other end, starting from the pages of private, little-known and fictional. He verifies rather than confirms the traditions. Shakespeare followed the legend, tradition, embroidering with extraordinary brightness on the canvas of common memory. Walter Scott himself created the canvas, presenting traditional figures anew, in that "domestic image" that Pushkin so accurately defined and highly appreciated in his method. Even in “Rob Roy”, where the name of a historical person is on the cover and where the fate of this real person is described in detail in the preface, Rob Roy appears only at the end of the book, however, gradually constantly present in the conversations of the characters, forming the background from which he himself appears at the forefront only at the end of the curtain. Such a rearrangement made it possible to discover the past as if an unknown country, and these pictures of the past “seemed almost miraculous to contemporaries” (B. G. Reizov).

Walter Scott took advantage of the experience Defoe- the principles of "truthful fiction", revealed in the "Adventures of Robinson", and the methods of historical and chronicle narration used Defoe in the "Diary of the Plague Year", which Walter Skota put especially high: historical material is presented through the lips of a random, non-historical person. So in the "Diary" the storyteller-sadler operates with statistical data, reporting how many and where the dead were buried, how they dug common graves etc. - the first person who comes across, an ordinary contemporary, a witness, reports well-known facts, gleaned from documentary sources, and as a result, the reader learns what is already known and tested as if anew.

Scott considers his predecessor and teacher Henry Fielding; his novel "Tom Jones" is, according to W. Scott, an example of a novel, because in it the story of a private person is given against a wide background public life, and also because it has a well-developed plot (the novel is notable for its unity of action) and a clear, complete composition.

5) "Scottish Border Songs" combine many of the great Scottish ballads, including "Sir Patrick Spence", "Johnny Strong Arm", "The Battle of Ottenburn", "Raven Flies to Raven", "Lord Ronald", "Vigil at the Coffin", "The Woman from Ashers Well". The edition was beautifully designed, provided with valuable notes, and included texts that Scott undoubtedly "improved" in places (for example, "Raven flies to raven"). He put a lot of effort into collecting ballads, often recording them from the voice, but his generation did not show scrupulousness in the matter of preserving texts in the form in which they existed - the scrupulousness characteristic of modern philologists, and Scott believed that he had every right to furtively smooth a stanza or even replace the original verses with more sonorous and heroic ones. In an 1806 letter, he claimed that he "didn't intersperse in these old Ballads" and mentioned the sources of some of the "original recordings"; but it is undoubted that he had a hand in a number of texts published by him, however, for the most part combining different texts, and not replacing the originals.

"Lochinvar"- this is a ballad by W. Scott, which is part of his poem "Marmion"(1808). The brave knight L. appears without an invitation to the marriage ceremony of his former bride Matilda (according to another version - Helen), who, believing L. dead, is going to marry his old rival. However, L., who received the right to farewell dance with the bride, "dances" her on the porch, puts her in the saddle and sets off towards joint matrimonial happiness.

In pursuit they chased along the ditches, over the hills

And Musgrave, and Forster, and Fenwick, and Gramm;

They jumped, searched near and far -

The missing bride was nowhere to be found.

Per. I. Kozlova

"Marmion" immediately moved Scott from the poets of the Borderlands, as he appeared in "The Minstrel", into the category of national poets.

Battle of Sempach(German: Schlacht bei Sempach; July 9, 1386) - a battle between the militia of the Swiss Union and the Austrian troops of the Habsburgs. The defeat of the Austrian army by the Swiss ensured that the Habsburgs recognized Swiss independence.

Walter Scott wrote this poem in 1818 as a sign of his respect for the small but proud Switzerland, which managed to defend its independence from the Austrian Empire.

Austrian banners in the dust

At Sempach, in battle...

Many knights found

Your grave is there.

Per. B. Tomashevsky

"Nora's Oath" written in 1816 for "Mr. Campbell's Anthology" - a collection of poems by famous English poets at the beginning of the century. It was written based on an old Gaelic song, about which Scott writes in a note, specifying the difference between his poem and the original.

But the autumn wind, in turn,

Their fiery dress will rip off,

And the count is damp until autumn

He will call the mountain girl his wife!

Per. B. Shmakova

1) In the 18th and early 19th centuries there were constant disputes about whether the very genre of the historical novel is possible, in other words, whether it is possible to combine historical truth and fiction in one work. Fiction destroys historical truth, distorting events and feelings, and naked truth cannot deliver artistic pleasure to the reader. According to W. Scott, the task of the historical novel was by no means a strict, scientific, pedantic adherence to the facts. In his opinion, the most important thing for a historical novelist is to interpret events in such a way that the modern reader understands them and becomes interested in them: “In order to arouse at least some interest in the reader,” he wrote in the preface to the novel “Ivanhoe,” it is necessary to state your chosen topic in the language and in the manner of the era you live in. Therefore, the novelist should not get too carried away with archeology and may, if the plot requires it, make factual errors in dates, biographies of historical figures, etc. The main thing, according to W. Scott, is not to separate sharply the ancient from the modern and not to forget about "a wide neutral space, that is, about that mass of customs and feelings that are equally characteristic of us and our ancestors, who passed to us unchanged from them ..."

"As regards this preface, the reader should regard it as expressing the opinions and intentions of the author who undertook this literary work with the proviso that he is far from thinking that he has succeeded in achieving the final goal.

2) The second way that Scott used was to change the ratio of fiction and reality. The story in the works of V. Scott is created by the characters themselves, but they are so saturated with the era, so typical that the story is revealed to the reader more than fully. Pushkin called it "the home way" and greatly admired this approach.

Walter Scott believed that a historical novel will more fully convey to the reader the essence of what is happening in a particular era than a scientific study. After all, the world of psychology and human passions is much closer to us than dry historical facts.

3) "Ivanhoe" (1819) - one of the most interesting and significant novels by W. Scott. The action of the novel refers to the end of the XII century, that is, to the period of the establishment of feudal relations in medieval England. The struggle between the Anglo-Saxons, who had lived on the territory of England for several centuries, and the conquerors - the Normans, who took possession of England at the end of the 11th century, dates back to the same time. It was a struggle between Anglo-Saxon and Norman feudal lords. It was complicated by social contradictions between the serfs and the feudal lords (both Normans and Anglo-Saxons). The national conflict was closely intertwined with the social one. At the same time, during this period, there was a struggle for the centralization of royal power, the struggle of King Richard against the feudal lords. The process of centralization of England was a historically progressive phenomenon, for it prepared the ground for the emergence of the English nation.

In his novel, Scott truly reflected this complex era of the reorganization of England, the process of turning scattered fiefs into a single kingdom.

The conflict of the novel comes down to the struggle of the rebellious feudal nobility, interested in maintaining the political fragmentation of the country, against the royal power, which embodied the idea of ​​a single centralized state. This conflict is very typical of the Middle Ages. King Richard the Lionheart in the novel is the bearer of the idea of ​​centralized royal power, drawing his support from the people. Symbolic in this regard is the joint assault on the castle of Fron de Boeuf by the king and the shooters of Robin Hood. The people together with the king against the rebellious clique of feudal lords- such ideological meaning this episode.

The plot of "Ivanhoe" is largely driven by enmity between the knight Ivanhoe, close to King Richard, and the sinister templar Brian de Boisguillebert. An important role in the development of the plot is also played by the episode of the capture of Cedric Sax and his companions by the soldiers de Bracy and Boisguillebert. Finally, the attack of Robin Hood's shooters on Torquilston, the castle of Front de Boeuf, is motivated by their desire to free the prisoners. It can be seen that in the events shown by Scott, seemingly of a private nature, conflicts of a historical scale are reflected.

4) The main conflicts of the novel stem from both national and social contradictions that took place in the country. revealing contradictions between representatives of the old Anglo-Saxon nobility (Cedric, Athelstan) and the Norman feudal lords (Norman knights Fron de Boeuf, de Malvoisin, de Bracy), V. Scott shows the inevitability of the collapse of all claims of the Saxon nobility and the Saxon dynasty to restore the old order. It is no coincidence that Athelstan, the last descendant of the Saxon kings, is shown in the novel as a lazy and inactive person, a fat glutton who has lost the ability to act actively. And even Cedric - the embodiment of the virtues of the old Anglo-Saxon nobility, who came out to defend their national honor and ancestral possessions, even he, despite all his courage, determination, firmness, is not able to prevent what is happening. Normans win, and this victory historically natural; it signifies the victory of a new social order with complicated forms of feudalism, with completed feudal exploitation, with a class hierarchy, etc. Patriarchal Relations Defeated by Feudalism, the cruelty of which is convincingly revealed by the writer.

W. Scott also pays great attention to struggle of the peasants with the Norman conquerors. The peasants hate them as oppressors.

In the song sung by the peasant-slave Wamba, the attitude of the peasants towards the Norman feudal lords is expressed:

Norman saws on our oaks,

Norman yoke on our shoulders,

Norman spoon in English porridge,

The Normans rule our country.

In his novel, Scott gives very sharp social characteristics of the feudal oppressors, not only Norman, but also Anglo-Saxon. W. Scott paints a realistic picture of the cruelty of feudal customs and customs.

Question number 3. The material and spiritual culture of the Middle Ages as a living background for the action of the novel. Detailed characteristics of life and customs: Anglo-Saxons and Normans. The concept of "local color".

1) The Middle Ages is depicted in the novel as a bloody and gloomy period. Scott's novel gives an idea of ​​the boundless arbitrariness of the feudal lords, the transformation of knight's castles into robber dens, the lack of rights and poverty of the peasants, the cruelty of knightly tournaments and the inhuman trials of witches. The era appears in all its severity. The author's democratic sympathies manifested themselves in sharply negative characteristics of the nobility and clergy. Treacherous Prince John, depraved and predatory chivalry - the ferocious Fron de Boeuf, the treacherous Voldemar Fitz Urs, the unprincipled de Bracy - this is a gallery of feudal robbers plundering the country and its people, inciting civil strife. Even in the image of Cedric, who is in a camp other than all these conquerors, Scott emphasizes exorbitant vanity, boundless despotism and stubbornness.

Scott considered serious problems and historical accuracy as a condition for creating a truly historical novel. The writer carefully and conscientiously studied historical monuments, documents, costumes, customs. V. G. Belinsky wrote: “When we read a historical novel by Walter Scott, we ourselves become, as it were, contemporaries of the era, citizens of the countries in which the event of the novel takes place, and we receive about them, in the form of living contemplation, a more accurate concept than what any one could give us about them. story".

But still the main thing in Scott's novels is not the image of life and customs, and the image of history in its movement and development.

2) He paints pictures of the bloody struggle of the Saxon feudal lords and peasants with the Norman conquerors, creates expressive portraits of the Saxon thanes, lower in culture than the Normans, rude and extremely arrogant Norman aristocrats who despise the people and insult the national dignity of the Saxons.

Scott did not consider the ancient freedom of the Anglo-Saxons to be barbaric and anarchic, but he did not consider Anglo-Saxon society as some kind of idyll. He urged to evaluate the “ancient freedom” of the Anglo-Saxons in a differentiated way: the “freedom” of the Anglo-Saxon leader Cedric, who aspired to independence from the conquerors, differed from the “freedom” of his swineherd Gurt, because the relationship between them is the relationship of master and servant.

By 1066 the Normans were at a higher level of civilization and culture than the native inhabitants of Britain and the Anglo-Saxons who conquered them. The technical and military backwardness of the Welsh and Anglo-Saxons was obvious. Scott believed that the Norman Conquest of England accelerated the process of feudalization of the country, which in turn led to the establishment of a stronger royal power and, consequently, to the centralization of the country. The Welsh carefully preserved the national traditions and customs of their ancestors, and at the same time did not shy away from the innovations brought by the winners, borrowing even the details of clothing from them. And this did not humiliate them at all, while the fierce adherence to the old traditions, which Cedric Sax showed in Ivanhoe or Lady Baldringham in The Betrothed, only slowed them down. historical development nation.

In "Ivanhoe" the XII century is depicted, until recently there were Anglo-Saxons, the conquest of the Normans. And there you can clearly see what modern English people are. This is the Anglo-Saxon root system, reworked by the Normans. Recycled in all respects: in everyday, social, psychological, cultural. In "Ivanhoe" it is wonderfully emphasized that the Anglo-Saxon language, the indigenous language, the language of the natives - it remained only in the lower classes of society, it is the language of everyday life, the language of the lower classes and everyday life. And the language of war, hunting and love is the language of the Normans. Very accurate analysis. In modern English, the language layer of higher, refined concepts is almost all of French origin, Norman. And the household layer is of Germanic, Saxon origin.

3) local color(French couleur locale) is a concept both geographical and historical. It involves a passion for the exotic of other eras, other lands and their detailed description.

Scott was not among the pioneers of local color. He himself recognizes the primacy of H. Walpole's "Gothic novel" The Castle of Otranto (1765), in which he especially appreciates the intention "by means of a carefully thought-out plot and carefully reproduced historical flavor of those times, to evoke similar associations in the mind of the reader and prepare him for the perception of miracles, congenial beliefs and feelings of the characters in the story themselves.

These words were written by Scott in 1820 in the preface to a new edition of X. Walpole's novel. By this time, he himself had far surpassed the skill of his predecessor in the ability to create the illusion of the past.

history connoisseur, W. Scott does not idealize the past at all, it shows a rough, cruel and dangerous world, where an ordinary trip from the estate to the city is possible only under the cover of an armed detachment, which also does not guarantee a happy ending - anything can happen along the way. In addition, the author slyly notes, describing the luxurious chambers of Lady Rowena, readers should hardly envy the apartments of a medieval beauty - the walls of the house are so poorly caulked that it blows out of them, and the draperies constantly sway from this. However, discomfort did not occupy the minds of the people of that time, for them it was the norm and did not matter compared to another problem - to be constantly on the alert, preparing to repel an attack and protect your life.

Scott also appreciated the local flavor, but he loved to feel the dissimilarity of eras not in order to oppose them. For him, the main thing was to understand the connection between the past and the present, to discover in history the origins of today's problems and events.

Scott knows history not only from folk tales and songs. Already a famous novelist, he compared himself like this with his numerous successors and imitators: “In order to gain knowledge, they have to read old books and cope with collections of antiquities, but I write because I have read all these books for a long time and, thanks to a strong memory, have information that they have to search. As a result, their historical details are drawn by the hair...” (diary entry dated 11/18/1826).

Question number 4. Features of the figurative structure. The role and place of historical figures. New possibilities for realistic typing of fictional characters. The masses as the driving force of history. Image of social relations.

1) Obviously, Scott's historical characters are fictional as well as non-historical ones. Documents and all kinds of information about the era, of course, are necessary for the novelist, but often he must renounce their despotism, which could interfere with historical creativity. From the same considerations, Scott tried to free himself from historical characters and introduced many fictional ones into his novels in order to freely seek and create the truth. More historical truth can be embodied in a fictional character than in a historical character; in order to create and therefore explain a fictional character, one can draw on more information about moral life, everyday life, the existence of the masses - information that is not in the documents, but which determines the nature of the entire era.

Sir Walter was born in August 1771 in Edinburgh. His family was very wealthy and educated. Father - Walter John - was a lawyer. Mother - Anna Rutherford - was the daughter of a professor of medicine. The couple had thirteen children. The writer was born ninth in a row, but by the time he reached the age of six months, he had only three brothers and sisters left.

Walter Scott himself could follow the dead. A short biography for children does not elaborate on this point. But in January 1772, the child fell seriously ill. Doctors diagnosed children's paralysis. Relatives were afraid that the baby would forever remain motionless, but after long therapeutic manipulations, the doctors managed to put him on his feet. Unfortunately, it was not possible to completely restore mobility, and Sir Walter remained lame for life.

Walter Scott, father of the writer, in his youth

Anna Scott, the writer's mother, in old age. From a painting by George Watson

Most of his childhood was spent in the wonderful town of Sandinow, where his grandfather's farm was located. At the age of seven, he returned to his parents in Edinburgh, and from 1779 he began to attend school. His physical handicap was more than replaced by a lively mind and a phenomenal memory. After graduating from Walter Scott School, short biography which is very informative, goes to a local college.

At this time, he begins to get involved in mountaineering, again because of his health. Sports have helped young man grow stronger and earn the respect of peers. He read extensively, with particular attention to Scottish tales and ballads. Sir Walter learned German in order to better understand the German poets, whose work he was also fond of in his student years.

All as one of his friends claimed that he was an excellent storyteller, and predicted him to be great writers. But Scott had a different goal: he dreamed of getting a law degree. Career It happened in 1792, when the future literary celebrity passed the exam at the university. He was awarded a diploma, and Walter Scott, whose biography is a confirmation of the success of the writer, opened his own legal practice.

Career

This happened in 1792, when the future literary celebrity passed the exam at the university. He was awarded a diploma, and Walter Scott, whose biography is a confirmation of the success of the writer, opened his own legal practice.

In 1791, Scott joined the debating club, became its treasurer and secretary. Subsequently, he will lecture there on the topics of parliamentary reforms and the immunity of judges. For the first time, Scott acted as a defender in a criminal trial in 1793 in Jedburgh. Due to the nature of his work, Sir Walter spent little time in Edinburgh, traveling a lot around the district, taking part in various court cases. In 1795 he traveled to Galloway, where he acted as counsel for the accused party. He does not leave his passion for literature and brings from each of his trips a lot of folklore material, records of legends and local myths.

Poetic activity

Walter Scott, whose brief biography does not contain all the events from his interesting life, traveled a lot in search of old ballads and legends that he dreamed of publishing. His own activity as a writer began with translations. The first experience was the German poet Burger, whose poems ("Lenore", "The Wild Hunter") he adapted for the inhabitants of the United Kingdom. Then there were Goethe and his poem Goetz von Berlichingem. In 1800, he wrote the first original ballad "Ivan's Evening". In 1802, his dream came true - the publication of the Song of the Scottish Border was published, in which all the collected folklore material was published.

prosaic way

Starting to write novels, Walter Scott doubted the success of this business, although he was already known to the public. His first prose work Waverley came out in 1814. Not to say that it won success and fame, but was highly appreciated by both critics and ordinary readers.

For a long time, Scott thought about what genre to write his novels in. The fact that they will be connected with history, the author did not doubt. But to be different from others and bring something new to literary world, he developed a completely new structure and thus created the genre of the historical novel. In it, real personalities act only as a background and reflection of the era, and fictional characters come to the fore, whose fate is influenced by historical events.

Scott's first historical novel is Waverley, completed and published in 1814. This is followed by such works with socio-historical conflicts as "Guy Mannering" (1815), "The Antiquary" (1816), "The Puritans" (1816), "Rob Roy" (1818), "The Legend of Montrose" (1819) and other. After their release, Walter Scott becomes world famous, and many of his works in different time staged in the theater and cinema.

Personal life

Walter Scott was married twice. For the first time he fell in love in 1791 with Villamina Belches, the daughter of a well-known lawyer in the city. The young people were in a difficult relationship, as Vinyamine kept Scott a little distant for five years. Finally, when a serious conversation took place between the lovers, it turned out that Vinyamina had long been engaged to the son of a local banker, so Walter was alone with his broken hearted and unattainable desire to return the first love.

In 1796, the writer married Charlotte Carpenter, who gave her lover four children - two girls and boys. In life, Walter Scott did not like noisy adventures and extravagant adventures, the inventor of the novel in verse used to spend time measuredly, surrounded by family and loved ones. And even more so, Walter was not a Don Juan: the man despised fleeting connections on the side and was completely faithful to his wife.

WALTER SCOTT
(1771 — 1832)

Walter Scott was born on August 15, 1771 in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh in the family of a Scottish baronet, a wealthy lawyer. He was the ninth child in a family of twelve children. In January 1772, Scott fell ill with infantile paralysis, lost the mobility of his right leg and was permanently lame. Twice (in 1775 and 1777) little Scott was treated in the resort towns of Bath and Prestonpans. In 1778 Scott returned to Edinburgh. From 1779 he studied at the Edinburgh school, in 1785 he entered Edinburgh College.

The year 1792 becomes important for Scott: at the University of Edinburgh, he passed the bar exam. Since that time, Walter Scott has become a respected person with a prestigious profession, has his own legal practice. On December 24, 1796, Scott marries Margaret Carpenter, in 1801 he has a son, and in 1803 a daughter. From 1799 he became sheriff of Selkirk County, from 1806 - court clerk.

First literary performances W. Scott fall at the end of the 90s: in 1796, translations of two ballads were published German poet G. Burger "Lenora" and "The Wild Hunter", and in 1799 - a translation of the drama by I. V. Goethe "Getz von Berlichingem". The first original work of the young poet was the romantic ballad "Ivan's Evening" (1800). It was from this year that Scott began to actively collect Scottish folklore and, as a result, in 1802 he published the two-volume collection Songs of the Scottish Border. The collection includes several original ballads and many elaborate South Scottish legends. The third volume of the collection was published in 1803.

Walter Scott, in poor health, had a phenomenal capacity for work: as a rule, he published at least two novels a year. For more than thirty years literary activity the writer created twenty-eight novels, nine poems, many stories, literary criticism, historical works.

The romantic poems of 1805-1817 brought him fame as an outstanding poet, made the genre of the lyrical-epic poem popular, combines the dramatic plot of the Middle Ages with picturesque landscapes and lyrical songs in the style of ballads: "The Song of the Last Minstrel" (1805), "Marmion" (1808), "Lady of the Lake" (1810), "Rockby" (1813), etc. Scott became the founder of the historical poem genre.

At the age of forty-two, the writer first presented his historical novels to the readers. Like his predecessors in this field, Scott named numerous authors of "Gothic" and "antique" novels, he was especially fascinated by the work of Mary Edgeworth, whose work reflects Irish history. But Scott was looking for his own path. "Gothic novels" did not satisfy him with excessive mysticism, "antiquarian" - with incomprehensibility for the modern reader.

After a long search, Scott created a universal structure for the historical novel, redistributing the real and the fictional in such a way as to show that it is not the lives of historical persons, but the constant movement of history that cannot be stopped by any of the prominent personalities, is a real object worthy of the attention of the artist. Scott's perspective on development human society called providential (from lat. Providence - God's will). Here Scott follows Shakespeare. Shakespeare's historical chronicles comprehended national history, but at the level of the "history of kings". Scott translated historical figures into the plane of the background, and brought to the forefront of events fictional characters, whose share is affected by the change of epochs. Thus, Scott showed that the driving force of history is the people, folk life is the main object artistic research Scott. Its antiquity is never vague, foggy, fantastic; Scott is absolutely accurate in depicting historical realities, therefore it is believed that he developed the phenomenon of Historical color, that is, he skillfully showed the originality of a certain era. Scott's predecessors portrayed history for the sake of history, demonstrated their superior knowledge and thus enriched the knowledge of readers, but for the sake of knowledge itself. Scott is not so: he knows historical era in detail, but always connects it with contemporary issues, showing how similar problems have been solved in the past. So, Scott is the creator of the historical novel genre; the first of these, Waverley (1814), appeared anonymously (following novels until 1827 were published as works by "the author of Waverley").

At the center of Scott's novels are events associated with significant socio-historical conflicts. Among them are Scott's "Scottish" novels (written on the basis of Scottish history) - "Guy Mannering" (1815), "The Antiquary" (1816), "The Puritans" (1816), "Rob Roy" (1818), "The Legend of Montrose » (1819). The most successful among them are "Puritans" and "Rob Roy". The first depicts the rebellion of 1679, which was directed against the restored Stuart dynasty in 1660; the hero of "Rob Roy" is the people's avenger, the "Scottish Robin Hood".

In 1818, a volume of the Encyclopædia Britannica appears with Scott's article "Chivalry". After 1819, contradictions in the writer's worldview intensified. To pose sharply, as before, questions of the class struggle, Scott no longer decides. However, the themes of his historical novels became noticeably wider. Going beyond Scotland, the writer turns to the ancient times of the history of England and France. Events English history depicted in the novels Ivanhoe (1820), The Monastery (1820), The Abbot (1820), Kenilworth (1821), Woodstock (1826), The Beauty of Perth (1828). The novel "Quentin Dorward" (1823) is dedicated to the events in France during the reign of Louis XI. The scene of the novel "The Talisman" (1825) becomes the eastern Mediterranean. If we generalize the events of Scott's novels, then we will see a special, peculiar world of events and feelings, a gigantic panorama of the life of England, Scotland and France over several centuries, from the end of the 11th to early XIX century.

In Scott's work of the 20s, while maintaining a realistic basis, the presence and significant influence of romanticism increases over time (especially in Ivanhoe, a novel from the late Middle Ages). A special place in it is occupied by a novel from modern life"St. Ronan Waters" (1824). The bourgeoisization of the nobility is shown in critical tones, the titled nobility is depicted satirically. In the 1920s, a number of works by Walter Scott on historical and historical-literary topics were published: The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte (1827), The History of Scotland (1829-1830), The Death of Lord Byron (1824).

Having suffered a financial collapse at the end of the 20s, Scott earned so much in a few years that he almost completely paid off his debts, which exceeded one hundred and twenty thousand pounds sterling. In life he was an exemplary family man, a man of good, sensitive, tactical will; loved his estate Abbotsford - which he rebuilt, making a small castle out of it; he was very fond of trees, domestic animals, a good feast in the family circle. He died of a heart attack on September 21, 1832.

By creating a historical novel, Scott established the laws of a new genre and brilliantly put them into practice. He connected even family and domestic conflicts with the fate of the nation and the state, with the development of public life. Scott's work significantly influenced European and American literature. It was Scott who enriched social romance XIX century the principle of a historical approach to events. In many European countries his works formed the basis of the national historical novel.

Walter Scott; Scotland, Edinburgh; 08/15/1771 - 09/21/1832

Walter Scott is considered one of the greatest Scottish and English writers of all time. He is considered one of the founders of the historical novel genre, which was admired by his contemporaries and followers. So it was Scott's novels that inspired me to try myself in the genre of historical novel. After all, this English writer was popular in Russia no less than at home. His novels were translated literally in a year (which was unusually fast for that time) and enjoyed great popularity. The novels of W. Scott have not lost their appeal to the modern reader. So "Ivanhoe" is a novel that is very popular, which allowed him to take a high place in our rating.

Biography of Walter Scott

Walter Scott was born into the family of a professor of medical sciences at the University of Edinburgh. In total, the family had 13 children, but only 6 survived. Walter also suffered serious illness because of which he remained forever lame. The boy's childhood passed on his grandfather's farm, where, despite his physical handicaps, he amazed everyone with his phenomenal memory. At the age of eight, Walter enters the Edinburgh school, and after 6 years he goes to college. In college, he enjoys mountain climbing and reads a lot. Going in for sports allowed to strengthen the body and practically hid the chromate. At the same time, self-education in combination with a phenomenal memory allowed the author to study history in great detail.

At 21, Walter Scott successfully passed the exams at the University of Edinburgh and became a practicing lawyer, with his own legal practice. In the same year, he met Villamina Belches, whose hand he sought for more than 5 years, but who ultimately preferred a wealthy banker. Perhaps the names of this unrequited love inspired Walter Scott to poetry. It was in 1796 that the first translation of Scott's ballads by a German writer was published.

Despite the unrequited love that slipped for a long time in the images of the heroines of Scott's novels, a year later the young writer married Charlotte Carpenter. Their marriage lasted until the death of his wife and was quite strong. After all, Walter turned out to be a decent family man and a good business executive. Meanwhile, in the literary field, he conquered all of England with his novels in verse, which made him a famous poet.

However, in 1814 Walter Scott decides to try his hand at prose. His debut novel Waverley, or Sixty Years Ago was very well received by the literary community. An unusual combination of fictional characters with real historical events and very detailed description epochs were to the taste of the reader. This allowed Scott to write more and more actively in the genre of the historical novel. In the time before the death of the author in 1832 from a heart attack, Walter Scott managed to write 28 novels, 9 poems and many stories.

Novels by Scott at Top Books website

Our rating includes the novel by Scott "Ivanhoe". This novel, although not considered the best among the works of the author, received well-deserved love from readers as early as 1814. At that time, more than 10 thousand copies of the novel were sold. Those were really sky-high numbers. Thanks to the presence of "Ivanhoe" novel in the curriculum of some institutions, the popularity of the work is still quite large. This suggests the presence of Scott's novel "Ivanhoe" in the subsequent ratings of our site.

All books by Walter Scott

Poetry:

1. The Vision of Don Roderick
2. Ruler of the Isles
3. Lady of the Lake
4. Marmion
5. Songs of the Scottish Border
6. Song of the last minstrel
7. Waterloo field
8. rockby

Novels:

1. abbot
2. antiquary
3. Highlander's Widow
4. Woodstock, or Cavalier
5. Guy Mannering, or Astrologer
6. Count Robert of Paris
7. Two chauffeurs
8. The castle is dangerous
9. Charles the Bold, or Anna of Geierstein, Maiden of Gloom
10. Quentin Dorward
11. Kenilworth
12. Bride of Lammermoor
13. Legend of Montrose
14. Monastery
15. betrothed
16. Siege of Malta
17. Peveril Peak
18. Perth Beauty, or Valentine's Day
19. Pirate
20. The Adventures of Nigel
21. Puritans
22. redgauntlet
23. Rob Roy
24. Saint Ronan Waters
25. Mascot
26. Waverley, or Sixty Years Ago
27. black dwarf
28. edinburgh dungeon

Historical works:

1. Grandpa's stories
2. Biographies of novelists
3. Life of Napoleon Bonaparte
4. History of Scotland
5. Stories from the history of France
6. Death of Lord Byron

Romana is the world famous Scottish writer Walter Scott. His biography is a chronology of the life of a worker, at the same time in love with his homeland and appreciating the history and unity of Britain.

His fellow countrymen appreciate him for being the first to present Scottish culture and identity to the world in his books. The writer warned the champions of the English great power that an attempt to "de-Scottish" his compatriots was doomed to a resounding failure. He respected customs native land and honored the head of his clan. However, he has always been a champion of the rule of law and British statehood. Therefore, quite consciously, the writer accepted the court title of baronet granted by the king.

Childhood

Born in the capital of Scotland - Edinburgh - Sir Walter Scott. The biography of this strong-willed and extraordinary person began with a test. At the age of one, he suffered from childhood paralysis, and therefore was marked for life with a lameness, having lost the mobility of his right leg. He was the ninth child in the family of a famous Edinburgh lawyer. However, only three children survived. Twice the parents treated the child's illness at mineral springs, which eased the symptoms of the disease. Before starting his studies, little Walter Scott was a frequent visitor as a nephew on the farms of relatives in the Scottish province.

His childhood was imbued with the simple life of the Scottish outback, folk tales, songs. The unpretentious hilly landscape of his homeland with numerous lakes and ancient mysterious buildings was close to his soul.

Education

From the age of eight, Walter Scott studied at Edinburgh School, and at the age of 14 he entered Edinburgh College. Among his peers, he was distinguished by a phenomenal memory and an innate mind. His comrades considered him an unsurpassed storyteller. From childhood to the end of my days future writer independently worked on his education, he deeply delved into ancient and European (especially German) literature, having received encyclopedic knowledge recognized by all.

In his youth, carried away by mountaineering, the future classic became physically stronger, and his disease began to manifest itself to a lesser extent.

Family, career

Walter Scott (1771-1832) was surprisingly harmonious and holistic in nature, the writer achieved genuine public respect, having received a solid lawyer's education and a revered profession. His first feeling was miserable. A twenty-year-old young man falls in love with the daughter of his father's friend, Villamina Belches, and takes care of her for five years, but she does not reciprocate his feelings and marries another.

However, he was destined for a harmonious and happy family life. At the age of twenty-five he married Miss Margaret Carpenter. The spouses first have a son, and two years later a daughter. Moving along career ladder, in 1806 he was appointed clerk of the court.

Good husband and father

According to the surviving records of contemporaries, Sir Walter Scott was an exemplary father and head of the family. His biography testifies that he gave his children a proper education, and the writer, who was in love with Scotland, rebuilt his estate Abbotsford at his own discretion into an old castle, however, convenient and comfortable. The place of the armories and servants' rooms in the classic's house was occupied by library halls and an office. Despite the rather frequent ailments, he was a pleasant and hospitable host, the soul of the company.

He was a kind and fair person, a sanguine person, who communicated equally easily and kindly with both nobles and ordinary people. His professional activity always followed the golden rule of the presumption of innocence. In the political battles between the British liberals and the Tories, each of whom tried to win over the famous writer to their side, he did not follow either side, preferring the sensible position of a statesman.

Poetic creativity

Their first literary works Walter Scott wrote at the age of 25. The biography of the famous novelist began with poetic creativity. The Scot translated Gottfried Burger's mystical ballads The Wild Hunter and Lenora, as well as Johann Goethe's chivalrous tragedy Goetz von Berlichingen. Soon the young author begins to write works based on Scottish folklore. The poet wrote his first own work in 1800, it was the mystical knightly ballad "Ivan's Evening".

Inspired folk epic, the poet begins to develop this fertile theme, issuing a two-volume collection of his poems called Songs of the Scottish Border. He was successful. The creation of the third volume of "Songs" was already eagerly awaited by the reading public in Britain. Thanks to its innovative romantic poetry Walter Scott became famous. His books poetry enjoyed success with their compatriots. Among them, the ballads "Marmion", "Rockby", "Lady of the Lake", "Song of the Last Minstrel" deserve special recognition.

Social novels

The famous novelist began writing prose ten years later. His first work was published anonymously in 1814 under the title Waverley, or 60 Years Ago. Quite often ill, Walter Scott worked surprisingly fruitfully. His books (meaning novels) were written on average two per year. Until 1827, his prose was published under the signature "Author of Waverley". In total, over the thirty years of his work, 28 novels and a large number of stories were published from the writer's pen. His literary research went beyond the canonical chivalric romances, he became disillusioned with mysticism.

He created in literature a new style, masterfully mixing the history of his native land, which he knew brilliantly, with highly artistic fiction, while creating surprisingly bright characters loved by readers. For him, real historical events are only a canvas against which the life of his characters flows. The work of Walter Scott until 1819 tends to describe the fateful events and conflicts for Britain. The most striking novels of that period are Rob Roy (1818), which tells the story of a Scottish rebel and robber, and The Puritan (1816), where we are talking about rebellion against the royal dynasty. In addition to the two books mentioned above, the reader's attention is riveted to the Antiquary, Guy Mannering, and The Legend of Montrose.

Romantic books

After 1819, Walter Scott somewhat changes the subject of his works. Romanticism in his novels intensifies, the intensity of class confrontation decreases. Now the writer's attention is riveted to the whole of Britain, and not just to his native Scotland. The palette of the master becomes more diverse. A kind of Rubicon in his work is the novel "Ivanhoe" (1819), which tells about England in the 12th century. He was followed by the writing of the books "The Abbot", "The Monastery", "Kenilworth", "Quentin Dorward", "The Beauty of Perth". He creates and biographical works: "The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte", "The Death of Lord Byron".

financial hardship

However, the literary work that Walter Scott was engaged in was not so simple. Interesting Facts from the life of the writer testify that in 1825, while he was working on The Fate of Napoleon, the capital of the publisher and printer collaborating with him (Constable and the late James Ballantyne), combined with his capital, went bankrupt on speculative transactions managing company "Hirst, Robinson and Co.".

The British then looked with sympathy at the ruin of their favorite. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, when the ruined Sir Walter Scott, as court clerk, appeared at his meeting, he behaved with dignity and meekness. When his colleagues offered to lend him enough money to straighten out his financial condition The writer refused. He, thanking for the participation, replied: "My right hand will help me." In these words there was also a high human dignity, and pure Scottish pride.

Death of a classic

The writer almost managed to pay off the debt of 120,000 pounds formed from the depreciation of bills with the proceeds from his new novels. However, nervous tension and constant irregular writing work affected his health. In the period from 1830 to 1831, the writer experiences three strokes of apoplexy, and on September 21, 1832, Sir Walter Scott died of a heart attack at his Abbotsford estate. The rest of his debt was repaid fifteen years later, thanks to the sale of authorship rights.

It should be noted that not only readers of books know Walter Scott. The adaptation of the works of the classic is familiar to millions of viewers. The film "The Legend of the Valiant Knight Ivanhoe", as well as the film-mix based on the works of the classic "Arrows of Robin Hood", is very famous. The films "Rob Roy", "The Adventures of Quentin Durward" are known to fans of his work.

Conclusion

A writer of novels read in Britain and around the world, Sir Walter Scott was a deeply respected author. He stood at the origins of the creation of the historical novel genre. Classic was a very harmonious personality and very successfully combined creative and legal activities.

He comprehended the science of wisdom: to live with people and for people, having his own point of view, but at the same time not having enemies. It is noteworthy that Walter Scott was a true patriot of Scotland. His biography is an example of creative literary work.

It is regrettable the premature demise of this the most talented person caused by heavy irregular work and poor health.