(Walter Scott) - famous British writer, poet, historian, lawyer of Scottish origin. He is considered the founder of the historical novel genre.
Was born 15 August 1771 in Edinburgh, in the family of a wealthy lawyer. In a family of 13 children, six survived.
Since childhood, the writer suffered from paralysis, as a result of which he remained lame for the rest of his life. He was often taken to resorts for treatment. Despite his physical disability, already in early age He amazed those around him with his lively mind and phenomenal memory, and read a lot.
In 1778 he returned to Edinburgh. From 1779 he studied at Edinburgh school, and in 1785 he entered Edinburgh College. In college, he became interested in mountaineering, became physically stronger, and gained popularity among his peers as an excellent storyteller.
Together with his friends, he organized a “Poetry Society” in college, studied German.
In 1792 he took the bar exam at the University of Edinburgh. After that, he actively practiced law and traveled extensively throughout the country. Along the way, he collected folk tales and legends about the country's heroes.
He became interested in translating German poetry and anonymously published his translations of Bürger's ballad "Lenora".
In 1791, he fell in love for the first time, but Villamina Belches chose someone else over him. This was a huge blow for young Walter, and he repeatedly used the image of a girl in his works. W. Scott married Charlotte Carpenter in 1797 and was an exemplary family man; loved his Abbotsford estate, which he rebuilt into a small castle.
In 1830 he suffered his first stroke of apoplexy, which paralyzed him. right hand. In 1830-1831, Scott experienced two more apoplexy.
Scott's work is conventionally divided into two groups: novels dedicated to the recent past of Scotland and novels dedicated to the past of England, as well as continental countries in the Middle Ages. The poet's first serious work appeared in 1800. It was a romantic ballad "Midsummer's Evening". The events of Scottish history are most clearly depicted in such novels as Guy Mannering, Rob Roy, etc. Moving away from Scotland, the writer depicted historical events England and neighboring countries in the novels “Ivanhoe”, “Woodstock”.
Sir Walter Scott - world famous Scottish writer, poet, historian, collector of antiquities, lawyer - was born August 15, 1771 in Edinburgh, in the family 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 remained alive. In a family of 13 children, six survived.
In January 1772 fell ill with infantile paralysis, lost the mobility of his right leg and remained lame forever. Twice - in 1775 and in 1777- was undergoing treatment 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, and also at his uncle's house near Kelso. Despite his physical handicap, already at an early age he amazed those around him with his lively mind and phenomenal memory.
In 1778 returns to Edinburgh. Since 1779 studies at Edinburgh school, in 1785 enters Edinburgh College. In college, he became interested in mountaineering, became physically stronger, and gained popularity among his peers as an excellent storyteller. He read a lot, including ancient authors, was fond of novels and poetry, and especially emphasized the traditional ballads and tales of Scotland. Together with his friends, he organized a “Poetry Society” at college, studied German and became acquainted with the work of German poets.
It becomes important for Scott 1792: At the University of Edinburgh he passed the bar exam. From that time on, he became a respectable man with a prestigious profession and had his own legal practice. In the first years of independent legal practice, he traveled a lot around the country, collecting folk legends and ballads about Scottish heroes of the past. He became interested in translating German poetry and anonymously published his translations of Bürger's ballad "Lenora".
In 1791 met his first love - Williamina Belshes, the daughter of an Edinburgh lawyer. For five years he tried to achieve Williamina's reciprocity, but the girl kept him in uncertainty and in the end chose William Forbes, the son of a wealthy banker, to him, whom she married in 1796. Unrequited love became for him young man with a strong blow; Particles of Villamina’s image subsequently appeared more than once in the heroines of the writer’s novels.
In 1797 married Charlotte Carpenter (Charlotte Charpentier) (1770-1826). The couple had four children (Sophia, Walter, Anna and Charles). 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; loved trees, pets, good feast V family circle.
In 1830 he suffers the first stroke of apoplexy, which paralyzes his right arm. In 1830-1831 Scott experiences two more strokes of apoplexy.
Walter Scott died of a heart attack September 21, 1832 in Abbotsford, buried in Dryborough.
There is now a museum on Scott's Abbotsford estate. famous writer.
Walter Scott started his creative path from poetry. W. Scott's first literary appearances were at the end of the 90s of the 18th century.
The first original work of the young poet was the romantic ballad “John’s Evening” ( 1800 ). It was from this year that Scott began to actively collect Scottish folklore and, as a result, in 1802 publishes a two-volume collection “Songs of the Scottish Border”. The collection includes several original ballads and many elaborate southern Scottish legends. The third volume of the collection has been released in 1803. The entire reading public in Great Britain was most captivated not by his poems, which were innovative for those times, or even by his poems, but first of all by the world's first novel in verse, “Marmion.”
Romantic poems 1805-1817 brought him fame greatest poet, made popular the genre of lyric-epic poem, which combines the dramatic plot of the Middle Ages with picturesque landscapes And lyrical song in ballad style: "Song of the Last Minstrel" ( 1805 ), "Marmion" (1808 ), "Maiden of the Lake" ( 1810 ), "Rockby" ( 1813 ) etc. Scott became the true founder of the genre historical poem.
The prose of the then-famous poet began with the novel “Waverley, or Sixty Years Ago” ( 1814 ). Walter Scott, despite his poor health, had a phenomenal productivity: 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 critical articles, and historical works.
At the age of forty-two, the writer first submitted his historical novels to readers.
Scott's predecessors portrayed "history for history's sake," demonstrating their superior knowledge and thus enriching the knowledge of readers, but for the sake of knowledge itself. Not so with Scott: he knows historical era in detail, but always connects it with modern problem, showing how a similar problem has been solved in the past. Consequently, Walter Scott is the creator of the historical novel genre; the first of them is "Waverley" ( 1814 ) - appeared anonymously ( next novels right up to before 1827 published as works by the author of "Waverley").
Scott's novels center on events that involve significant socio-historical conflicts. Among them are Scott's "Scottish" novels (which are written on the basis of Scottish history) - "Guy Mannering" ( 1815 ), "Antique" ( 1816 ), "Puritans" ( 1816 ), "Rob Roy" ( 1818 ), The Legend of Montrose ( 1819 ).
The most successful among them are “The Puritans” and “Rob Roy”. In 1818 A volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica appears with Scott's article "Chivalry".
After 1819 contradictions in the writer’s worldview intensify. Walter Scott no longer dares to raise the question of the class struggle as sharply as before. However, its subject historical novels became noticeably wider. Going beyond Scotland, the writer turns to the ancient history of England and France. Events of English history are depicted in the novels "Ivanhoe" ( 1819 ), "Monastery" ( 1820 ), "Abbot" ( 1820 ), "Kenilworth" ( 1821 ), "Woodstock" ( 1826 ), "Perth Beauty" ( 1828 ).
The novel "Quentin Dorward" ( 1823 ) is dedicated to events in France during the reign of Louis XI. The setting of the novel “The Talisman” ( 1825 ) becomes the eastern Mediterranean of the era of the Crusades.
If we summarize the events of Scott's novels, we will see a special, unique 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 1820s, while maintaining a realistic basis, there is a significant influence of romanticism (especially in Ivanhoe, a novel from the 12th century). A special place in it is occupied by the novel from modern life"St Ronan's Waters" ( 1824 ). The bourgeoisification of the nobility is shown in critical tones, and the titled nobility is satirically depicted.
In the 1820s a number of works by Walter Scott on historical and historical-literary topics were published: “The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte” ( 1827 ), "History of Scotland" ( 1829-1830 ), "The Death of Lord Byron" ( 1824 ). The book “Biographies of Novelists” ( 1821-1824 ) makes it possible to clarify Scott’s creative connection with writers of the 18th century, especially with Henry Fielding, whom he himself called “the father of the English novel.”
When assessing Scott, we must remember that his novels generally preceded the works of many historians of his time.
Prose by W. Scott:
Waverley, or Sixty Years Ago ( 1814
)
Guy Mannering, or Astrologer ( 1815
)
Black dwarf ( 1816
)
Antique dealer ( 1816
)
Puritans ( 1816
)
Edinburgh Dungeon ( 1818
)
Rob Roy ( 1818)
Ivanhoe ( 1819
)
The Legend of Montrose ( 1819
)
Bride of Lammermoor ( 1819
)
Abbot ( 1820
)
Monastery ( 1820
)
Kenilworth ( 1821
)
The Adventures of Nigel ( 1822)
Peveril Peak (1822
)
Pirate ( 1822
)
Quentin Dorward ( 1823
)
St Ronan's Waters ( 1824
)
Redgauntlet ( 1824
)
Talisman ( 1825
)
Engaged ( 1825)
Woodstock, or Cavalier ( 1826
)
Two drovers ( 1827
)
Highlander's Widow ( 1827
)
Room with tapestries ( 1828
)
Perth Beauty, or Valentine's Day ( 1828
)
Charles the Bold, or Anna of Geyerstein, the Virgin of Darkness ( 1829
)
Count Robert of Paris ( 1831
)
The castle is dangerous ( 1831
)
Siege of Malta ( 1832
)
Sir Walter Scott (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832) – world famous English writer, translator, historian and lawyer. It is believed that Walter Scott is the founder of a new genre in literature - the historical novel.
Childhood
Walter Scott was born on August 15 in Edinburgh. His father was a hereditary lawyer whose ancestors lived in Scotland. The mother of the future writer was of aristocratic origin and was the daughter of hereditary doctors.
Walter was the ninth child in a family of 13 children. However, due to the plague and cholera epidemic that reigned at that time, only three children remained alive, including Walter.
A year after birth, the baby suffers from infantile paralysis. At that time, there were no treatment methods or specialists in the world who could help the child cope with the disease. Therefore, Walter Scott, having survived the most severe condition and began to recover, completely lost the mobility and sensitivity of his right leg (later this was what influenced his peculiar lame gait).
Due to his illness, which has greatly weakened the children’s body, Scott is forced to go to resorts several times for treatment. Over the course of several years of his life, he visited Bath and Prestonpans, restoring his failing health. And then he was transported from Edinburgh to his grandfather’s farm, located in Sandinow, where the parents planned to completely cure the child of paralysis (but, unfortunately, their desire did not yield results).
Youth and the beginning of a writing career
In 1785, having finished high school, Walter Scott enters Edinburgh College. This period is a turning point in the entire biography of the future writer.
At first, he tries to maximize his physical endurance and even goes mountaineering for a while, despite his physical disability. By the way, it is thanks to sports that Walter manages to strengthen his body and immunity for subsequent numerous trips.
In addition, the young man begins to become seriously interested in literature and, in particular, ancient manuscripts, ballads, legends and traditions of his native Scotland. For his aspirations, as well as for the incredibly rich vocabulary acquired by Scott after reading numerous books, he becomes the life of the party and receives the status of an excellent storyteller.
In the same year, Walter Scott, together with several fellow classmates, organized the Poetry Society at the college. Its participants have the opportunity not only to share their impressions of the books they have read, but also to learn German, as well as bring their own stories and poems for review. Soon the Poetry Society becomes one of the most popular in the college.
In 1792, Scott decided to try himself in the legal field and successfully passed all the bar exams. He is entrusted with several cases at once, as a result of which he is forced to travel around the country for some time. Walter does not waste time - he combines his work as a lawyer with collecting new and even more interesting Scottish legends. By the way, he even translates some of them into English language. In particular, at this time he anonymously published his translation of Bürger's ballad "Lenora".
Since 1796, Walter Scott has left his position as a lawyer and concentrated his attention on creative career writer. Initially, he openly published translations of the ballads “The Wild Hunter” and “Lenora”, and later, in 1799, a translation into German of Goethe’s drama “Götz von Berlichingen”. Since 1800, the active independent creativity of the aspiring writer began. Scott's works such as Midsummer's Evening, Songs of the Scottish Border, Marmion and others appear in publications.
After some time, Walter Scott began creating his famous historical novels. Following the traditions of Shakespeare, he describes, rather, not the characters themselves, creating a story for them, but, on the contrary, talks about the inevitable and constant flow of this very story, which affects the life and actions of each character. Walter Scott’s similar view of the world would soon be called “providentialist” (from Latin word, denoting God's will).
Scott's first historical novel was 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 became famous throughout the world, and many of his works different times staged in theater and cinema.
Personal life
Walter Scott was married twice. He first fell in love in 1791 with Villamina Belches, the daughter of a famous lawyer in the city. The young people were in a difficult relationship, as Vinyamina kept Scott a little at a distance 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 found himself alone with his broken heart and the unattainable desire to return his first love.
Six years later, he meets an ordinary girl - saleswoman Charlotte Carpenter, whom he marries six months later. A happy couple gives birth to twins. Scott loved and cherished children very much.
Name: Walter Scott
Age: 61 years old
Activity: writer, poet, translator
Marital status: widower
Walter Scott: biography
No wonder Sir Walter Scott is called Father English literature, because this one brilliant writer became one of the first to invent the genre of historical novel. The manuscripts of the gifted master of the pen influenced many writers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Rumor has it that the works of Walter Scott were translated in the territory Russian Empire at the speed of light: the novel, written by an Englishman in 1829, was already being read aloud in the social salons of aristocratic ladies and gentlemen in 1830.
Childhood and youth
The famous writer was born as the ninth child on August 15, 1771 in the capital of Scotland - Edinburgh, a city endowed with landmarks, temples and stone streets. The future novelist grew up in a large Presbyterian family (there were 13 children, but only six remained), who lived on the third floor of a tenement house located in a narrow lane that leads from Cowgate to the gates of the oldest university.
Walter Scott was raised in the family of Scottish professional lawyer Walter John. Noble clients often turned to the head of the family for legal assistance, but Walter Sr., due to his modesty and gentleness, was unable to make a fortune. The writer's mother, Anna Rutherford, was the daughter of an eminent professor of medicine who worked at the Institute of Edinburgh. Anna was a modest, well-read woman who loved antiques and historical stories. The son also inherited these qualities.
It cannot be said that the childhood of the future novelist was happy: an unexpected illness poisoned his existence little boy. The fact is that when Walter was one and a half years old, he suffered from infantile paralysis, so throughout the coming years the child desperately fought for life. In 1775–1777, Walter was treated at resorts and also stayed on his grandfather’s farm (where young Scott first met folk epic and folklore). But this unexpected illness reminded Walter of itself throughout his life, because great writer remained lame forever (lost the mobility of his right leg).
In 1778, the young man returned to his native Edinburgh and began attending primary school. educational institution. Walter was not enthusiastic about the lessons; in particular, the future writer did not like complex algebraic formulas. But it is worth noting that Scott grew up as a phenomenal child: already at the age of five he began to read ancient Greek works and could easily recite a ballad he had memorized.
Walter was engaged in self-education throughout his life, and his school days did not leave an imprint on the writer’s knowledge. After all, even the literary detective used to say that the human brain is an empty attic where you can stuff anything. This is what a fool does: he drags in the necessary and the unnecessary. And finally there comes a time when you can no longer fit the really necessary thing in there.
Therefore, in order to get to what he needed in his “attic,” Walter brought there only the most useful, as they say, essentials. Therefore, in the future there will be colossal baggage necessary knowledge helped Scott write on almost any topic.
Walter the student was a mischief-maker, a regular at boy fights and brawls, and loved to run during recess. In addition, Walter, in the breaks between lessons, realized the potential of a storyteller: crowds of peers gathered around the future novelist and listened with bated breath amazing stories, which in content resembled adventure novels great writers.
Also in teenage years Scott became famous as a mountaineer: a physically developed boy easily conquered mountain peaks, setting an example for his friends with courage, bravery and excellent athletic training. When the future writer turned 12 years old, he entered college. But the genius’s illness again made adjustments: a year later, young Scott suffered an intestinal hemorrhage, which is why he was unable to continue his studies.
During the Enlightenment, medicine was not developed; many medical rituals of those years are still amazing to this day. modern readers. To bring his physical condition back to normal, Walter Scott had to go through all the circles of hell. The boy stood naked in the bitter cold for several hours, underwent bloodletting procedures, and also sat on a strict two-month diet and limited himself in his favorite delicacies. After lengthy treatment, which lasted two years, the young man returned to hometown and followed in his father's footsteps, becoming an apprentice in his law office.
Walter didn’t like the monotonous work in his parent’s office; the paperwork only made the young man sad. But Scott still tried to benefit from routine work: to dilute boring days, the young man tried to depict amazing adventure worlds on paper with the help of an inkwell and a pen. Also, by rewriting various legal documents, Walter received a small salary, which he spent on his favorite books.
At the insistence of the parent, further life's path Walter chose legal practice. In 1792, the young man passed the university exams and received the worthy title of lawyer. From that moment on, Scott was considered in society as a respectable person with a prestigious profession and education.
Scott spent the first years of his working life usefully: he traveled to different cities and countries, got acquainted with the life and traditions of other people, as well as with the traditional legends and ballads of Scotland. However, such trips only benefited the aspiring writer and were reflected in many novels.
At the same time, Walter began to plunge into the vast worlds of German poetry: the young man translated every line of the masters with trepidation. Translations were published incognito, without the name of the author, including famous work A burgher called “Lenora” (Russian-speaking readers are familiar with the translation) and the drama “Getz von Berlichingen”.
Literature
Sir Walter Scott, like , did not believe that literary field can be regarded as the main income in life, and also did not want to acquire fame and recognition - to put it mildly, Scott shunned popularity and treated writing without reverence. Writing for Scott was nothing more than a favorite pastime and entertainment that brightens up the lonely hours of life and brings new emotions and colors to the canvas of life.
The novelist preferred to exist calmly and measuredly, devoting large number time for my favorite pastime - planting trees. Creative biography Walter Scott began not only with translations, but also with poetry. His first work, the ballad “John's Evening” (1800), was flavored with notes of romance. The writer continued to collect Scottish folklore, which formed the basis of his debut manuscripts.
In 1808, Walter Scott became an innovator in the literary field, inventing a novel in verse under the name “Marmion.” Surprisingly, even such a venerable genius has creative downs along with ups: Scott’s know-how was torn to smithereens by critics. The fact is that they considered the master’s plot unclear: his protagonist mixed both virtue and meanness, and such qualities were unsuitable for lyrical hero.
Francis Jeffrey said that the plot of "Marmion" is flat and tedious. But such a cool reception from writers did not affect the author’s further reputation. Russian writers received the novel in verse with a bang. For example, Zhukovsky freely interpreted Scott’s lines in his work “The Trial in the Dungeon,” and, as if imitating Walter, he wrote the poem “Ishmael Bey,” the action of which takes place in the Caucasus. And he even found the plot of “Marmion” attractive and used some of the motifs in his numerous creations.
Scott also composed the works “Two Lakes” (1810) and “Rokeby” (1813), due to which he became the true founder of a new genre - the historical poem. Moreover, the author, like Shakespeare, skillfully mixed both fiction and reality in one bottle. Thus, history in the works of the master of the pen did not stand still, but moved forward: the fate of the characters was influenced by changes in the era.
The writer loved to read Gothic and antiquarian novels, but did not follow the path of his predecessors. Walter did not want to use excessive mysticism, due to which he became famous, and also did not want to become the author of “ancient” works. In his opinion, many archaisms will simply become incomprehensible to the reader of the Enlightenment.
Although Walter Scott suffered from poor health and poor eyesight from birth, he worked very productively and managed to create at least two books a year. In total, the master of the pen managed to compose 28 novels during his life, as well as many ballads and stories, critical articles and other creative works.
The writer's works, such as "The Puritans" (1816), "Ivanhoe" (1819), "The Abbot" (1820), "Quentin Durward" (1823), "The Talisman" (1825), "The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte" (1827) and many others became desk bibles for writers of subsequent years. For example, Arthur Conan Doyle, Byron, and other eminent literary figures relied on these manuscripts.
Personal life
Scott's personal life was not cloudless. At the age of 20, Walter was first struck in the chest by the arrow of the insidious Cupid: the young man experienced a feeling of love for a certain Villamina Belches, the daughter of a lawyer, who was five years younger than her admirer. For five years, the writer sought mutual sympathy from this flighty young lady, who accepted the advances of the gentleman, but was in no hurry to cool his ardor with an unambiguous answer.
As a result, Villamina chose Walter over another young man - William Forbes, the son of a famous banker. Unrequited love was a blow for the author of novels, but at the same time it provided the basis for new works, the protagonists of which were heroes with broken hearts.
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 was used to spending time in a measured way, surrounded by family and loved ones. And even more so, Walter was not a Don Juan: the man despised fleeting relationships on the side and was completely faithful to his wife.
The famous pen master loved pets and also enjoyed doing housework. Scott, with his own hands, without outside help, improved his Abbotsford estate by planting numerous flowers and trees.
Death
IN recent years During his lifetime, the writer's health began to deteriorate sharply; Walter Scott suffered three strokes of apoplexy. And in the fall of 1832, the 61-year-old master died of a heart attack.
In memory of the writer, monuments were erected, and documentaries and feature films were made.
Bibliography
- 1808 – “Marmion”
- 1810 – “Maiden of the Lake”
- 1811 – “The Vision of Don Roderick”
- 1813 – “Rokeby”
- 1815 – “The Field of Waterloo”
- 1815 – “Lord of the Isles”
- 1814 – “Waverley, or Sixty Years Ago”
- 1816 – “The Puritans”
- 1820 – “Abbot”
- 1823 – “Quentin Dorward”
- 1825 – “Talisman”
- 1827 – “Two drovers”
- 1828 – “Room with Tapestries”
- 1829 – “Karl the Bold, or Anna of Geierstein, Maid of Darkness”
- 1831 – “Count Robert of Paris”
Sir Walter Scott. Born 15 August 1771 in Edinburgh - died 21 September 1832 in Abbotsford (buried in Dryborough). World famous British writer, poet, historian, collector of antiquities, lawyer, of Scottish origin. He is 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), the 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 remained alive. 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 lame forever. 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, and also at his uncle's house near Kelso. Despite his physical handicap, already at an early age he amazed those around him with his lively mind and phenomenal memory.
In 1778 he returned to Edinburgh. From 1779 he studied at Edinburgh school, and in 1785 he entered Edinburgh College. In college, he became interested in mountaineering, became physically stronger, and gained popularity among his peers as an excellent storyteller.
He read a lot, including ancient authors, was fond of novels and poetry, and especially emphasized the traditional ballads and tales of Scotland. Together with his friends, he organized a “Poetry Society” at college, studied German and became acquainted with the work of German poets.
Most of Scott gained his extensive knowledge not at school and university, but through self-education. Everything that interested him was forever imprinted in his phenomenal memory. He did not need to study special literature before composing a novel or poem. A colossal amount of knowledge allowed him to write on any chosen topic.
The year 1792 became important for Scott: at the University of Edinburgh he passed the bar exam. From that time on, he became a respectable man with a prestigious profession and had his own legal practice.
In the first years of independent legal practice, he traveled a lot around the country, along the way collecting folk legends and ballads about Scottish heroes of the past. He became interested in translating German poetry and anonymously published his translations of Bürger's ballad "Lenora".
In 1791, he met his first love, Williamina Belshes, the daughter of an Edinburgh lawyer. For five years he tried to achieve Villamina's reciprocity, but the girl kept him in uncertainty and in the end chose William Forbes, the son of a wealthy banker, whom she married in 1796. Unrequited love became a severe blow for the young man; Particles of Villamina’s image 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 loved trees, pets, and a good meal with his family.
Walter Scott began his creative journey with poetry. W. Scott's first literary appearances occurred at the end of the 90s of the 18th century: in 1796, translations of two ballads of the German poet G. Burger “Lenore” and “The Wild Hunter” were published, and in 1799 - a translation of the drama “Getz von Berlichingem”.
The young poet’s first original work was the romantic ballad “Midsummer’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 well-researched southern Scottish legends. The third volume of the collection was published in 1803. The entire reading public in Great Britain was most captivated not by his poems, which were innovative for those times, or even by his poems, but first of all by the world’s first novel in verse, “Marmion” (in Russian, it first appeared in 2000 in the publication “Literary Monuments”).
Scott's novels were originally published without the author's name and were only revealed incognito in 1827.
Romantic poems of 1805-1817 brought him fame as the greatest poet and made popular the genre of lyric-epic poem, which combines the dramatic plot of the Middle Ages with picturesque landscapes and a lyrical song in the style of a ballad: “Song of the Last Minstrel” (1805), “Marmion” (1808) , “Maid of the Lake” (1810), “Rokeby” (1813), etc. Scott became the true founder of the genre of historical poem.
The prose of the then-famous poet began with the novel “Waverley, or Sixty Years Ago” (1814). Walter Scott, despite his poor health, had a phenomenal productivity: as a rule, he published at least two novels a year. Over the course of more than thirty years of literary activity, the writer created twenty-eight novels, nine poems, many stories, literary critical articles, and historical works.
At the age of forty-two, the writer first submitted his historical novels to readers. Like his predecessors in this field, Walter Scott called numerous authors of “Gothic” and “antique” novels, and he was especially fascinated by the work of Mary Edgeworth, whose work depicts Irish history. But Walter Scott was looking for his own path. “Gothic” novels did not satisfy him with excessive mysticism, “antique” ones - with incomprehensibility for the modern reader.
After a long search, Walter Scott created a universal structure of the historical novel, redistributing the real and the fictional in such a way as to show that it is not the life of historical persons, but the constant movement of history that cannot be stopped by any of the outstanding personalities, is a real object worthy of the artist's attention. Scott's view of development human society called “providentialist” (from Latin providentia - God's will). Here Scott follows Shakespeare. Historical chronicle Shakespeare comprehended national history, but at the level of the “history of kings”.
Walter Scott translated historical figure into the background plane, and brought to the forefront of events fictional characters, whose fate is affected by the change of era. Thus, Walter Scott showed that driving force history is represented by the people, itself folk life is the main object artistic research Scott. Its antiquity is never vague, vague, or fantastic; Walter Scott is absolutely accurate in his depiction of historical realities, therefore it is believed that he developed the phenomenon of “historical coloring,” that is, he skillfully showed the originality of a certain era.
Scott's predecessors portrayed "history for history's sake," demonstrating their superior knowledge and thus enriching the knowledge of readers, but for the sake of knowledge itself. This is not the case with Scott: he knows the historical era in detail, but always connects it with a modern problem, showing how a similar problem found its solution in the past. Consequently, Walter Scott is the creator of the historical novel genre; the first of them, Waverley (1814), appeared anonymously (the following novels until 1827 were published as works by the author of Waverley).
Scott's novels center on events that involve significant socio-historical conflicts. Among them are Scott’s “Scottish” novels (which are 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 Stuart dynasty, restored in 1660; the hero of "Rob Roy" is the people's avenger, the "Scottish Robin Hood". In 1818, a volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica appeared with Scott’s article “Chivalry.”
After 1819, contradictions in the writer’s worldview intensified. Walter Scott no longer dares to raise the question of the class struggle as sharply as before. However, the themes of his historical novels became noticeably broader. Going beyond Scotland, the writer turns to the ancient history of England and France. Events of English history are depicted in the novels “Ivanhoe” (1819), “The Monastery” (1820), “The Abbot” (1820), “Kenilworth” (1821), “Woodstock” (1826), “The Beauty of Perth” (1828).
The novel Quentin Dorward (1823) is dedicated to events in France during the reign of Louis XI. The setting of the novel “The Talisman” (1825) is the eastern Mediterranean during the Crusades.
If we summarize the events of Scott's novels, we will see a special, unique 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 the beginning of the 19th century.
In Scott's work of the 1820s, while maintaining a realistic basis, there is a significant influence of romanticism (especially in Ivanhoe, a novel from the 12th century). A special place in it is occupied by the novel from modern life “St. Ronan's Waters” (1824). The bourgeoisification of the nobility is shown in critical tones, and the titled nobility is satirically depicted.
In the 1820s, 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). The book “Biographies of Novelists” (1821-1824) makes it possible to clarify Scott’s creative connection with writers of the 18th century, especially with Henry Fielding, whom he himself called “the father of the English novel.”
Scott's novels fall into two main groups. The first is devoted to the recent past of Scotland, the period civil war- from the Puritan revolution of the 16th century to the defeat of the highland clans in the mid-18th century and later: “Waverley” (1814), “Guy Mannering” (1815), “Edinburgh Dungeon” (1818), “The Scottish Puritans” (1816), “The Bride of Lammermoor” (1819), “Rob Roy” (1817), “The Monastery” (1820), “The Abbot” (1820), “The Waters of Saint-Ronan” (1823), “The Antiquary” (1816), etc.
The second main group of Scott's novels is devoted to the past of England and continental countries, mainly the Middle Ages and XVI century: “Ivanhoe” (1819), “Quentin Dorward” (1823), “Kenilworth” (1821), “Karl the Bold, or Anna of Geierstein, the Maid of Darkness” (1829), etc. There is no intimate, almost personal acquaintance with living legend, the realistic background is not so rich. But it is here that Scott especially develops his exceptional flair for past eras, which forced Augustin Thierry to call him “ the greatest master historical divination of all times." Scott's historicism is, first of all, external historicism, a resurrection of the atmosphere and color of an era. This side, based on solid knowledge, especially amazed Scott’s contemporaries, who were not accustomed to anything like this.
The picture he gave of the “classical” Middle Ages "Ivanhoe"(1819), is now somewhat outdated. But such a picture, at the same time thoroughly plausible and revealing a reality so different from modern times, has never existed in literature. This was a real discovery of a new world. But Scott's historicism is not limited to this external, sensory side. Each of his novels is based on a specific concept of the historical process at a given time.
The term "freelancer"(lit. “free spearman”) was first used by Walter Scott in the novel “Ivanhoe” to describe a “medieval mercenary warrior.”
So, "Quentin Dorward"(1823) gives not only bright artistic image Louis XI and his entourage, but reveals the essence of his policy as a stage in the struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. The concept of “Ivanhoe” (1819), where the central fact for England at the end of the 12th century was the national struggle of the Saxons with the Normans, turned out to be unusually fruitful for the science of history - it was the impetus for the famous French historian Augustin Thierry.
When assessing Scott, we must remember that his novels generally preceded the works of many historians of his time.
For the Scots, he is more than just a writer. He revived historical memory This people opened Scotland to the rest of the world and, first of all, to England. Before him, in England proper, especially in its capital London, Scottish history they were almost not interested, considering the mountaineers “wild”. Scott's works, which appeared immediately after the Napoleonic Wars, in which the Scottish riflemen covered themselves with glory at Waterloo, forced the educated circles of Great Britain to radically change their attitude towards this poor but proud country.
In 1825, a financial panic broke out on the London Stock Exchange, and creditors demanded payment of bills. Neither Scott's publisher nor the printer's owner, J. Ballantyne, were able to pay the cash and declared themselves bankrupt. However, Scott refused to follow their example and took responsibility for all the bills bearing his signature, amounting to £120,000, with Scott's own debts being only a small part of this amount. Exhausting literary work, to which he doomed himself in order to pay off a huge debt, took away years of his life.
In 1830 he suffered his first stroke of apoplexy, which paralyzed his right arm. In 1830-1831 Scott experienced two more apoplexy.
Currently, Scott's Abbotsford estate houses a museum for the famous writer.
Prose of Walter Scott:
Guy Mannering, or the Astrologer (1815)
Black Dwarf (1816)
Antiquary (1816)
Puritans (1816)
Edinburgh Dungeon (1818)
Rob Roy (1818)
Ivanhoe (1819)
The Legend of Montrose (1819)
The Bride of Lammermoor (1819)
Abbot(1820)
Monastery (1820)
Kenilworth (1821)
The Adventures of Nigel (1822)
Peveril Peak (1822)
Pirate (1822)
Quentin Dorward (1823)
St. Ronan's Waters (1824)
Redgauntlet (1824)
Talisman (1825)
Betrothed (1825)
Woodstock, or Cavalier (1826)
Two drovers (1827)
The Highlander's Widow (1827)
The Beauty of Perth, or Valentine's Day (1828)
Charles the Bold, or Anna of Geyerstein, Maid of Darkness (1829)
Count Robert of Paris (1831)
Castle Dangerous (1831)
Siege of Malta (1832).
