Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels
2 total works
'Here is a plot without a drop of blood; and all the elements of a romance, without its conclusion', comments the King towards the end of Scott's longest, and arguably most intriguing, novel. Set against the backdrop of the Popish Plot to overturn Charles II, Peveril of the Peak explores the on-going tensions between Cavalier and Puritan loyalties during the fraught years of Restoration England. Ranging from Derbyshire to the Isle of Man and culminating in London it is a novel which interweaves political intrigue, personal responsibilities and the ways in which the forces of history are played out in the struggles of individual human lives. But its true subject is perhaps the role of narration and the limits of storytelling itself. In this, the first scholarly edition of Peveril, Alison Lumsden recovers a lost novel.
The Magnum Opus edition, as it was familiarly know, defined the final shape of
Scott’s fiction for the 19th century. Scott’s introductions are semi-autobiographical essays in which he muses on his own art and the circumstances that gave rise to each of his works of fiction. His notes illustrate his text, sometimes with simple glosses, sometimes by quotations from historical sources, but most strikingly with further narratives which parallel rather than explain incidents and situations in the fiction.
Scott’s fiction for the 19th century. Scott’s introductions are semi-autobiographical essays in which he muses on his own art and the circumstances that gave rise to each of his works of fiction. His notes illustrate his text, sometimes with simple glosses, sometimes by quotations from historical sources, but most strikingly with further narratives which parallel rather than explain incidents and situations in the fiction.