Questions
1.
Does the novel actual promote moral lessons?
Explanation 1.
In the opening chapter Scott tells us that his readers “will meet in the following pages
neither a romance , nor a tale of modern manners; that my hero will neither have iron on his
shoulders, as of yore, nor on the heels of his boots, as is the present fashion of Bond Street...”
Where does Scott place himself in a literary context? He states his intention as that of describing
'the state of society in the northern island at the period of my history, and may serve at once to
vary and to illustrate the moral lessons, which I would willingly consider as the most important
party of my plan..” This statement is perplexing if we compare this statement to those in the
novel's final chapters. It is the more surprising because many readers
10
have noticed that many
of his novels lack any direction, whether moral or otherwise.
8
Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978.
9
Ashcroft Bill, Griffiths Gareth, Tiffin Helen. The Empire Writes Back. London: Routledge, 1989
10
See for instance, E.M.Forster. Aspects of the Novel. London: Edward Arnold, 1941.
If E.M. Forster did his best to sink Scott by relegating him to the realms of badly written children's
adventure stories, Georg Lukács has been responsible for re-establishing Scott as a serious
novelist. His classic study, The Historical Novel was first published in Moscow in 1937.
Lukacs, George. The Historical Novel. London: Merlin Press, 1989.
11
2. Does Waverley belong to the Bildungsroman genre?
Dostları ilə paylaş: |