Walter Scott, página 3 de 25

Anne of Geierstein is a gothic romance and adventure novel by Walter Scott. For this tale, Scott abandons his typical Scottish setting as the story follows two knights on a secret mission in Switzerland in the 1470s. This is one of Scotts most critically acclaimed novels as it opens on a dramatic cliff edge scene and the suspense continues to escalate throughout. One of the knights, Arthur, meets the titular Anne and falls in love with her but quickly learns that she may have mystical powers. Danger is ever-present throughout their journey as the heroes encounter spectral beings, are kidnapped by secret organisations, and battle in a brutal war. Anne of Geierstein is celebrated widely for Scotts romantic depictions of the Swiss landscape from forests to mountains and crumbling castles. This thrilling novel is the definition of a page-turner, and its gothic aspects make it the perfect read for fans of Walter Scott or Frankenstein.

This novel, which has always been regarded as one of Scott''s finest, opens with the Edinburgh riots of 1736. The people of the city have been infuriated by the actions of John Porteous, Captain of the Guard, and when they hear that his death has been reprieved by the distant monarch they ignore the Queen and resolve to take their own revenge. At the center of the story is Edinburgh''s forbidding Tolbooth prison, known by all as the Heart of Midlothian. ''Scrupulous and comprehensive editing (by Clare Lamont).''--Ian Duncan, Yale University ''Excellent texts. Because they include both Scott''s introductions and notes and the invaluable notes by Lamont, these texts are preferable to the volumes in the Edinburgh edition of Scott.''--Robert Mayer, Oklahoma State University

Si es vol escoltar la meva veu i si ningú més en aquesta sala s'alça en nom del cavaller Ivanhoe, afirmo que ell acceptarà qualsevol desafiament honorable. Si la meva pobra garantia afegeix seguretat a la inestimable penyora d'aquest sant peregrí, empeny

Romanzo epico ambientato nellInghilterra del XII secolo che, attraverso la storia del condottiero Ivanhoe che combatte a fianco di Riccardo Cuor di Leone, narra il contrasto tra normanni e sassoni. In un turbinio di battaglie, colpi bassi e troni usurpati, trovera posto anche lamore per la bella Rowena. Libro in lingua originale inglese con traduzione in italiano.

Ivanhoe was the first of Scott''s novels to take place in the middle ages but it is far from being the fantastic, medievalist romance associated (in the critical imagination) with a visionary Britain that never was. This is the first novel in English to deal seriously with issues of race. At the same time, it provides an exciting read to a contemporary audience. Set in the twelfth century, during the reign of Richard the Lionheart, Ivanhoe tells of the love of Wilfred of Ivanhoe for the Lady Rowena, his father Cedric''s ward. Cedric, who is dedicated to the liberation of the Saxon people from Norman oppression and to the revival of the Saxon royal line, intends Rowena - a descendant of King Alfred - for the oafish Athelstane, and he banishes his son. Ivanhoe joins King Richard on his crusade in the Holy Land, and eventually the two men return secretly to England - Ivanhoe to regain his inheritance and the land of Rowena, Richard to secure his kingdom from his scheming brother John who has ruled in Richard''s absence. With a gallery of memorable characters, high and low, Ivanhoe is a powerful and exciting evocation of a medieval world of jousting, baronial rivalry, siege warfare and trial by combat, and makes no attempt to gloss over the violence and brutality that lay behind the chivalric ideals.

Qué refrescante es leer un libro de impresiones de viaje cuando apenas se iniciaba, durante y tras el fracaso napoleónico, el turismo. Scott pensó que su periplo alrededor de Escocia en el año de 1814 era un viaje rapido, pero para nosotros, hombres de estos tiempos acelerados, su viaje conserva el candor de una edad que nunca ha de volver, justo antes de las revoluciones industriales. Las dos grandes virtudes de Scott en este libro son su amor, es decir su interes y su caridad por todo lo que ve, y su prosa de gran escritor que narra simplemente los hechos, apenas aqui y alla citando a algun latino (o a algun escoces). Este libro, a caballo entre un siglo que aun era como siempre habian sido y el siglo en el que todo iba a cambiar, es un libro muy notable. Y señero lo vuelve que hable de Escocia. Pablo Soler Frost (traductor y prologuista de la obra)

Romanzo a tinte fosche, che narra lamore di Edgard e Lucy, vittime dellodio delle rispettive famiglie che porterà ad intrighi, uccisioni e pazzia. Libro in lingua originale inglese con traduzione in

Bloody battles, cheap shot, usurped thrones and finally the love. Protagonist of this epic novel is Ivanhoe heir of a Saxon noble family, fighting side-by-side with the Norman king, Richard I of Engl

Romanzo nel quale Sir Philip a seguito di un matrimonio di convenienza con Lady Jemima parte volontario in guerra a fianco del Duca di Marlborough. Lady Jemima non avendo piu notizie del conserte, si affida ad un presunto dottore di Padova in grado di mettere in contatto persone lontane: attraverso uno specchio magico vedra il consorte intento in un nuovo matrimonio con la figlia di un ricco borgomastro olandese... Libro in lingua originale inglese con traduzione in italiano.

For the most popular of his Scottish romances, published at the end of 1817, Scott drew on the legends and historical anecdotes about Rob Roy MacGregor he had collected in his youth. By turns thrilling and comic, Rob Roy contains Scott's most sophisticated treatment of the Scottish Highlands as an imaginary space where the modern and the primitive come together. Newly edited from the `Magnum Opus' text of 1829, this edition includes full explanatory notes and a critical introduction exploring the originality and complexity of Scott's achievement.

Una nueva edición del clásico de Walter Scott.

Guy Mannering is set in the 1760s to 1780s, mostly in the Galloway area of southwest Scotland, but with episodes in Cumberland, Holland, and India. It tells the story of Henry "Harry" Bertram, the son of the Laird of Ellangowan, who is kidnapped at the age of five by smugglers after witnessing the murder of a customs officer. It follows the fortunes and adventures of Harry and his family in subsequent years, and the struggle over the inheritance of Ellangowan. The novel also depicts the lawlessness that existed at the time, when smugglers operated along the coast and thieves frequented the country roads.

The scene of this romance is laid in the fifteenth century, when the feudal system, which had been the sinews and nerves of national defence, and the spirit of chivalry, by which, as by a vivifying soul, that system was animated, began to be innovated upon and abandoned by those grosser characters who centred their sum of happiness in procuring the personal objects on which they had fixed their own exclusive attachment. The same egotism had indeed displayed itself even in more primitive ages; but it was now for the first time openly avowed as a professed principle of action. The spirit of chivalry had in it this point of excellence, that, however overstrained and fantastic many of its doctrines may appear to us, they were all founded on generosity and self denial, of which, if the earth were deprived, it would be difficult to conceive the existence of virtue among the human race.Among those who were the first to ridicule and abandon the self denying principles in which the young knight was instructed and to which he was so carefully trained up, Louis XI of France was the chief. That sovereign was of a character so purely selfishso guiltless of entertaining any purpose unconnected with his ambition, covetousness, and desire of selfish enjoymentthat he almost seems an incarnation of the devil himself, permitted to do his utmost to corrupt our ideas of honour in its very source. Nor is it to be forgotten that Louis possessed to a great extent that caustic wit which can turn into ridicule all that a man does for any other persons advantage but his own, and was, therefore, peculiarly qualified to play the part of a cold hearted and sneering fiend.The cruelties, the perjuries, the suspicions of this prince, were rendered more detestable, rather than amended, by the gross and debasing superstition which he constantly practised.

Since it hath pleased the Almighty God, out of his infinite mercy, so to make us happy, by restoring of our native King to us, and us unto our native liberty through him, that now the good may say, magna temporum felicitas ubi sentire quoe velis, et dicere licet quoe sentias, we cannot but esteem ourselves engaged in the highest of degrees, to render unto him the highest thanks we can express. Although, surprisd with joy, we become as lost in the performance; when gladness and admiration strikes us silent, as we look back upon the precipiece of our late condition, and those miraculous deliverances beyond expression. Freed from the slavery, and those desperate perils, we dayly lived in fear of, during the tyrannical times ...

Un noble francés llamado Quintin Durward recibe la misión de ejercer como caballero protector de la bella dama Isabel, con la que su tío, el viejo Lord Crawford, pretende casarse con la colaboración politica del duque de Borgoña. Se trata de una alianza estrategica. Isabelle, Condesa de Marcroy, no esta interesada en los esponsales y decide instalarse en Tours. Durante el viaje, su carruaje es asaltado por el melevolo William De la Marek, pero su paladin Durward llega para defenderla y el rey Luis XI la acoge bajo su proteccion. Con el apoyo y amistad del gitano Hayraddin, Durward entra al servicio de la corona. Tras multiples aventuras, el invencible espadachin y un sinfin de peripecias (incluso romanticas), la alianza de Borgoña y Escocia se produce finalmente.

"St. Ronans Well is not so much my favourite as certain of its predecessors," Lady Louisa Stuart wrote to Scott on March 26, 1824. "Yet still I see the authors hand in it, et cest tout dire. Meg Dods, the meeting", "and the last scene between Clara and her brother, are marked with the true stamp, not to be matched or mistaken. Is the Siege of Ptolemais really on the anvil?" she goes on, speaking of the projected Crusading Tales, and obviously anxious to part company with "St. Ronans Well." All judgments have not agreed with Lady Louisas. There is a literary legend or fable according to which a number of distinguished men, all admirers of Scott, wrote down separately the name of their favourite Waverley novel, and all, when the papers were compared, had written "St. Ronans." Sydney Smith, writing to Constable on Dec. 28, 1823, described the new story as "far the best that has appeared for some time. Every now and then there is some mistaken or overcharged humourbut much excellent delineation of character, the story very well told, and the whole very interesting. Lady Binks, the old landlady, and Touchwood are all very good. Mrs. Blower particularly so. So are MacTurk and Lady Penelope. I wish he would give his people better names; Sir Bingo Binks is quite ridiculous.... The curtain should have dropped on finding Claras glove. Some of the serious scenes with Clara and her brother are very fine: the knife scene masterly. In her light and gay moments Clara is very vulgar; but Sir Walter always fails in well-bred men and women, and yet who has seen more of both? and who, in the ordinary intercourse of society, is better bred? Upon the whole, I call this a very successful exhibition."