Waverley (Penguin English Library)
by Andrew Hook, Walter Scott

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Book Reviews of Waverley (Penguin English Library)

Book Review: Stick With It....
Summary: 4 Stars

If you're fluent in Old Scotts, French and Latin, and familiar with hundreds of historical/literary allusions (some of which Scott purposefully distorts in the mouths of his characters), then you should be OK. Otherwise, I see only two ways for the reader to make it through "Waverly" -- Sir Walter Scott's first historical novel and progenitor of an entire literary genre. Either keep a thumb on the page you're reading and leave the other digits free to mark the glossary, appendices and notes. Or, may I suggest you plow through the text fortified with your favorite beverage and merely pretend to understand what is being said?

Here's an example from the pedantic and quarrelsome, Baron Bradwardine, who has just dismounted his war-horse:

"I seldom ban, sir, but if you play any of your hound's-foot tricks, and leave puir Berwick before he's sorted, to rin after spuilzie, deil be wi' me if I do not give your craig a thraw."

You'll forgive my very loose, vulgar translation, but here goes:

"I seldom swear, sir, but if I catch you running around, leaving my poor horse, Berwick, unattended (all hot and lathered) so you can whore after the spoils of war, it will be the devil with me if I don't wring your bloody neck with my own hands."

Mercifully, the narration is written in modern English. The trick is to get through the first 125 pages, which is all narrative, no dialogue, and not a modicum of action. Something is not quite right here. Either Scott's erudition is too much for a Post- World War II baby boomer weaned on television; or, he was still cutting his literary teeth on "Waverly" and had not yet mastered a narrative technique that served him so well later on. My problem is I'm not quite sure which it is?

Ultimately, the text and narration may be easier to deal with than the young hero protagonist, Edward Waverly -- the last remaining branch of a venerable, ancient English family, whose only familial blemish is empathy for Scottish independence. By no means is Edward Waverly a bad fellow -- I don't think he has a mean bone in his body. He is, indeed, a gentleman at a time when that term actually stood for something. He also possesses a certain adventuresome spirit, and to use a modern day expression he has wonderful survival skills.

The problem with Edward Waverly is that Scott has rendered a central character that inspires something like indifference in the reader, and at the risk of sounding too harsh I'm not sure I really care what happens to him. It's hard to. This is how he describes himself: "I am the very child of caprice." And here is the brave, ambitious Highland Chieftain, Fergus Mac-Ivor, telling Edward, "...you are not celebrated for knowing your own mind very pointedly." That's putting it mildly! At times his behavior is overly mannered, wooden and seemingly imbecilic. At other times, he appears to aimlessly drift from one allegiance to another.

Perhaps this is the way Scott wanted to portray an overly romantic young man, struggling to find his place in the world and trying rather desperately to answer the age-old question: "Who am I?" Or, maybe, it was Sir Walter Scott struggling with himself? After all, he was blazing a new literary genre with "Waverly," and his primary goal was to recapture a bygone era (which he does so magnificently.) My sense is Scott created Edward Waverly to transport his reader back in time, and along the way Scott may have lost touch with his own young protagonist.

Half a century later, Robert Louis Stevenson recreated Edward Waverly as David Balfour in "Kidnapped", who is also a young man coming of age in war-torn Scotland. The difference is that David Balfour does not have the advantages of wealth and education, nor is he overly romantic and foolish enough -- as is Edward Waverly -- to willingly stick his head into the jaws of a real historic event, the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. Perhaps the best that can be said for Edward Waverly is that many of the novel's heroic figures love him and want to protect him....mostly from himself. And to his credit, by the end of this long tale, Edward Waverly manfully handles the loss of so many dear friends.

So, why have I given "Waverly" four stars? Well, on the authority of others, it did create an entirely new literary genre -- the historical novel. But I loved this book because Sir Walter Scott created a precious time-bank of 18th Century Scottish culture. This is a treasure trove of language and customs, and the reader is treated to a national ethos of Scotland, including marshal ardor, hospitality, thrift and a certain fondness for overly intricate legal matters. And, if you can make it through, say, four-fifths of the book, Scott delivers a heartfelt, masterful ending that blends pathos with celebration and renewal.

Summary of Waverley (Penguin English Library)

Classics Books

• Subjects > Literature & Fiction > Classics
• Genre Fiction > Historical
• Literary
• Romance > Historical