Sir Walter Scott

Walter Scott (1771-1832) was a novelist, poet, playwright, and historian who began his literary career as editor of the traditional songs and ballads of Scotland and as a writer of romances in verse. In this 1958 study, Ian Jack examines Scott's merits as a novelist and his carelessness about the technique of his art; he emphasizes the degree to which Scott's imagination was visual; and he traces Scott's part in revolutionizing the status of the novel, and in making us more aware than ever before of historical perspectives.

A volume in the Writers and Their Work series, which draws upon recent thinking in English studies to introduce writers and their contexts. Each volume includes biographical material, an examination of recent criticism, a bibliography and a reappraisal of a major work by the writer.