Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott invented the historical novel as a major literary form with Waverley, creating a template for serious historical fiction that influenced novelists from Dickens to Tolstoy. His Scottish Highland romances created the romantic image of Scotland that persists to this day. He was the most popular novelist in the world during his lifetime.
Works
- WaverleyHistorical novel of a young Scot caught between clan loyalties during the Jacobite Rising
- IvanhoeMedieval romance of a Saxon knight fighting Normans and crusaders in feudal England
- Rob RoyHistorical novel of an outlaw Highland chieftain defying English law and romantic convention
- The Heart of MidlothianNovel set in seventeenth-century Edinburgh where a woman finds love amid civic upheaval
- Old MortalityHistorical novel of Scottish Covenanters resisting religious persecution during the Restoration
- KenilworthHistorical novel of intrigue and romance at the court of Elizabeth I
- The Lay of the Last MinstrelNarrative poem following a minstrel's journey through medieval border stories
- MarmionNarrative poem of a knight's exploits and tragic love during medieval warfare
- The Lady of the LakeRomantic poem set in the Scottish Highlands featuring a mysterious Lady of an enchanted lake