Wander through Edinburgh and you will find Walter Scott, Scotland’s most famous novelist, everywhere: pubs named after characters or places in his books, his walking cane and slippers in The Writers’ Museum. Just outside the Waverley train station, Scott’s statue stands beneath a monument affectionately nicknamed the Rocket.
Built in 1840, eight years after his death at the age of 61, the Scott Monument captures the extreme regard for this international bestselling writer and son of Edinburgh. Scott’s adventurous historical stories, set against a dramatic background of high mountains, dark lakes and deep valleys, brought a vision of Scotland to the world.
As his friend, Jane Austen once remarked, Scott had two careers in literature. He quickly became Europe’s most famous poet in 1805 with immediate success of his first narrative poem, The Lay of the Last Minstrel, the tale of two lovers on opposite sides of a family conflict.
A 1810 book-length poem of King James V’s struggles with the powerful family Douglas, The Lady of the Lake would have obtained his reputation on its own. Selling 25,000 copies in eight months, it broke records for poetry sales and brought its setting, the fantastic Lake Katrine, to the attention of a novel (新颖的) tourism industry.
Scott also wrote songs and collected ballads for future, but after the success of his poetry, he turned to novel writing in his 40s. For nearly 20 years he produced a series of fat novels, which spread his reputation around the globe further still. Although involving in the gothic style popular at the time, Scott favoured historical themes, not only set in Scotland but also England, France, Syria and elsewhere, as far back as the 11th century. However, these days, Scott’s writing has fallen out of fashion thanks in part to the absolute length of the novels.
Waverley, Scott’s exploration of the Jacobite uprising of 1745, lends itself to political as much as literary analysis. The Highland Widow captures the conflicted mood of a young lad who, seeking better fortune, joins in the Black Watch, upsetting his mother. Drugging her son so he misses his appointment, she sends him to military execution (处决). Although written in a sentimental (伤感的) style popular at the time, the story finds much to say about national tensions, military occupation, and cultural conflict in the lives of post-Union Scots.
【小题1】Why will you find Walter Scott everywhere when wandering through Edinburgh?| A．Because the characters or places in his books are set only in Scotland. |
| B．Because pubs in Edinburgh are fond of being named after Walter Scott. |
| C．Because Walter Scott’s cane and slippers are displayed in the Writers’ Museum. |
| D．Because Walter Scott is an international bestselling author and son of Edinburgh. |
| A．lengthy | B．novel | C．uninteresting | D．complicated |
| A．Waverley. | B．The Lady of the Lake. |
| C．The Highland Widow. | D．The Lay of the Last Minstrel. |
