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Edward Waverley, a young English soldier in the Hanoverian army, is sent to Scotland where he finds himself caught up in events that quickly transform from the stuff of romance into nightmare. His character is fashioned through his experience of the Jacobite rising of 1745-6, the last civil war fought on British soil and the unsuccessful attempt to reinstate the Stuart monarchy, represented by Prince Charles Edward. Waverley`s love for the spirited Flora MacIvor and his romantic nature increasingly pull him towards the Jacobite cause and test his loyalty to the utmost.
With Waverley, Scott invented the historical novel in its modern form and profoundly influenced the development of the European and American novel for a century at least. Waverley asks the reader to consider how history is shaped, who owns it and what it means to live in it, questions as vital at the beginning of the twenty-first century as the nineteenth.
A new edition that combines Claire Lamont`s authoritative, first-edition text of the novel with a new introduction and up-to-date critical material by Kathryn Sutherland.
Wide-ranging introduction, drawing on the latest scholarship, examines Waverley`s claim to be the first modern historical novel and a decisive event in the development of the modern European novel. It explores the novel`s appearance in 1814 and the re-affirmation of British unity following the Jacobite defeat. It looks at the novel`s influence and the resurgence of historical romance today from novelists such as Hilary Mantel.
Includes Scott`s later Preface and Notes to the novel, adding a further valuable historical dimension.
Includes a Glossary of Gaelic, Scots and dialect words.
Updated Select Bibliography. ISBN - 9780198716594
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Pages : 544
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