British Historical Fiction Before Scott

In the half century before Walter Scott's Waverley , dozens of popular novelists produced historical fictions for circulating libraries. This book examines eighty-five popular historical novels published between 1762 and 1813, looking at how the conventions of the genre developed through a process of imitation and experimentation.

Redefines the British historical novel as a key site in the construction of British national identityThe British historical novel has often been defined in the terms set by Walter Scott's fiction, as a reflection on a clear break between past and present. Returning to the range of historical fiction written before Scott, Reinventing Liberty challenges this view by returning us to the rich range of historical novels written in the late eighteenth-century. It explores how these works participated in a contentious debate concerning political change and British national identity. Ranging across well-known writers, like William Godwin, Horace Walpole and Frances Burney, to lesser-known figures, such as Cornelia Ellis Knight and Jane Porter, Reinventing Liberty reveals how history becomes a site to rethink Britain as 'land of liberty' and it positions Scott in relation to this tradition.Key FeaturesRecovers the richness of the historical novel and history writing before Walter Scott, including the contribution of women writers to this debateExplores how historical fiction probes anxieties at the rise of commerce, the question of empire, and radical political changeRewrites our understanding of Scott and his relation to the earlier British historical novel

Redefines the British historical novel as a key site in the construction of British national identityThe British historical novel has often been defined in the terms set by Walter Scott's fiction, as a reflection on a clear break between past and present. Returning to the range of historical fiction written before Scott, Reinventing Liberty challenges this view by returning us to the rich range of historical novels written in the late eighteenth-century. It explores how these works participated in a contentious debate concerning political change and British national identity. Ranging across well-known writers, like William Godwin, Horace Walpole and Frances Burney, to lesser-known figures, such as Cornelia Ellis Knight and Jane Porter, Reinventing Liberty reveals how history becomes a site to rethink Britain as 'land of liberty' and it positions Scott in relation to this tradition.Key FeaturesRecovers the richness of the historical novel and history writing before Walter Scott, including the contribution of women writers to this debateExplores how historical fiction probes anxieties at the rise of commerce, the question of empire, and radical political changeRewrites our understanding of Scott and his relation to the earlier British historical novel

Returning to the range of historical fiction written before Scott, 'Reinventing Liberty' challenges this view by returning us to the rich range of historical novels written in the late 18th century. It explores how these works participated in a contentious debate concerning political change and British national identity.

Kenilworth. A Romance is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, first published on 8 January 1821.Kenilworth is apparently set in 1575, and centers on the secret marriage of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and Amy Robsart, daughter of Sir Hugh Robsart. The tragic series of events begins when Amy flees her father and her betrothed, Tressilian, to marry the Earl. Amy passionately loves her husband, and the Earl loves her in return, but he is driven by ambition. He is courting the favour of Queen Elizabeth I, and only by keeping his marriage to Amy secret can he hope to rise to the height of power that he desires. At the end of the book, the queen finally discovers the truth, to the shame of the Earl. But the disclosure has come too late, for Amy has been murdered by the Earl's even more ambitious steward, Varney.Giles Gosling, the innkeeper, had just welcomed his scape-grace nephew Michael Lambourne on his return from Flanders. He invited the Cornishman, Tressilian, and other guests to drink with them. Lambourne made a wager he would obtain an introduction to a certain young lady under the steward Foster's charge at Cumnor Place, seat of the Earl of Leicester, and the Cornish stranger begged permission to accompany him. On arriving there Tressilian found that this lady was his former lady-love, Amy. He would have carried back to her home, but she refused; and as he was leaving he quarrelled with Richard Varney, the earl's squire, and might have taken his life had not Lambourne intervened. Amy was soothed in her seclusion by costly presents from the earl, and during his next visit she pleaded that she might inform her father of their marriage, but he was afraid of Elizabeth's resentment.Warned by his host against the squire, and having confided to him how Amy had been entrapped, Tressilian left Cumnor by night, and, after several adventures by the way, reached the residence of Sir Hugh Robsart, Amy's father, to assist him in laying his daughter's case before the queen. Returning to London, Tressilian's servant, Wayland Smith, cured the Earl of Sussex of a dangerous illness. On hearing about this from Walter Raleigh, Elizabeth at once set out to visit Leicester's rival, and it was in this way that Tressilian's petition, in Amy's behalf, was handed to her. The queen was agitated to learn of this secret marriage. Varney was accordingly summoned to the royal presence, but he boldly declared that Amy was his wife, and Leicester was restored to the queen's favour...... Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, FRSE (15 August 1771 - 21 September 1832) was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright and poet with many contemporary readers in Europe, Australia, and North America. Scott's novels and poetry are still read, and many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature and of Scottish literature. Famous titles include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, Old Mortality, The Lady of the Lake, Waverley, The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor. Although primarily remembered for his extensive literary works and his political engagement, Scott was an advocate, judge and legal administrator by profession, and throughout his career combined his writing and editing work with his daily occupation as Clerk of Session and Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire. A prominent member of the Tory establishment in Edinburgh, Scott was an active member of the Highland Society and served a long term as President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1820-32)........ Ernest Percival Rhys (17 July 1859 - 25 May 1946) was a Welsh-English writer, best known for his role as founding editor of the Everyman's Library series of affordable classics. He wrote essays, stories, poetry, novels and plays.

This eBook edition of "Waverly" has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. It is the time of the Scottish Jacobite uprising of 1745 which sought to restore the Stuart dynasty in the person of Charles Edward Stuart, known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie". A young English dreamer and soldier, Edward Waverley, is sent to Scotland that year. He journeys north from his aristocratic family home, Waverley-Honour, in the south of England, first to the Scottish Lowlands and the home of family friend Baron Bradwardine, then into the Highlands and the heart of the rebellion and its aftermath.

Walter Scott was acutely conscious of the fictionality of his historical novels. In this 1989 book, James Kerr reads the Waverley novels as a grand fictional project constructed around the relationship between the language of fiction and historical reality. We can see throughout Scott's novels a tension between the romancer, recasting the events of the past in accordance with recognizably literary logics, and the historian, presenting an accurate account of the past. This contradiction, reflected in Scott's generic mixture of romance and realism, remains unresolved, even in the most self-conscious of his works. It is in this interplay of fiction and history that Professor Kerr identifies the rich complexity of the Waverley novels.

This eBook edition of "Ivanhoe" has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe, is out of favour with his father for his allegiance to the Norman king Richard the Lionheart. The story is set in 12th century England, after the failure of the Third Crusade, with colorful descriptions of knight tournaments, witch trials and outlaws. This story is follows one of the remaining Saxon noble families at a time when the nobility in England was overwhelmingly Norman.