The Journal of Sir Walter Scott

From the Original Manuscript at Abbotsford

By Walter Scott

1890

First Published

4.06

Average Rating

540

Number of Pages

16H29M

Audio Length

"I have all my life regretted that I did not keep a regular (journal). I have myself lost recollection of much that was interesting and I have deprived my family and the public of some curious information by not carrying this resolution into effect." Sunday 20 November, 1825 With these words Scott began what many regard as his greatest work, a diary which was to turn into an extraordinary day-to-day account of the last six years of his life, years of financial ruin, bereavement, and increasing ill health. As he laboured to pay off debts of over �120,000, Scott emerges, not simply as a great writer, but as an almost heroic figure whose generosity and even temper shine through at all times. This edition presents a complete edited text and notes drawing on a wealth of other material including correspondence, reminiscences and the memoirs of Scott's contemporaries. It remains one of the standards by which Scott scholarship is judged.

Avg Rating

4.06

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

44%

4 STARS

28%

3 STARS

19%

2 STARS

1 STARS

goodreads

Author

Walter Scott

Author · 62 books

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. British writer Sir Walter Scott popularized and refined a genre of ballads and historical novels; his works include Waverley (1814) and Ivanhoe (1819). Sir Walter Alva Scott created and called a series. Scott arranged the plots and characters so that the reader enters into the lives of great and ordinary persons, caught in violent, dramatic changes. Work of Scott shows the influence of the 18th century Enlightenment. He thought of every basically decent human, regardless of class, religion, politics, or ancestry. A major theme tolerates. They express his theory in the need for social progress that rejects not the traditions of the past. He first portrayed peasant characters sympathetically and realistically and equally justly portrayed merchants, soldiers, and even kings. In central themes, cultures conflict and oppose. Normans and Saxons warred. In The Talisman (1825), Christians and Muslims conflict. He deals with clashes between the new English and the old Scottish culture. Other great include Old Mortality (1816), The Heart of Midlothian (1819), and Saint Ronan's Well (1824). His series includes Rob Roy (1817), A Legend of Montrose (1819), and Quentin Durward (1823). Amiability, generosity, and modesty made Scott popular with his contemporaries. He also famously entertained on a grand scale at Abbotsford, his Scottish estate.