Quentin Durward

by Walter Scott

Overview

This novel, written in 1823, tells the story of Quentin Durward, a wandering Scottish nobleman who goes to France to make his fortune and ends up serving in the Scottish Guard of the French King, Louis XI. Quentin is as noble and true and chivalrous as Louis is sneaky, cruel, and out for number one, but together they make a pretty good team and a very satisfying story. (Goodreads)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783962723439
Publisher:	Otbebookpublishing
Publication date:	04/18/2018
Series:	Classics To Go
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	447
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, FRSE (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832) was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature and of Scottish literature. Famous titles include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, Old Mortality, The Lady of the Lake, Waverley, The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor. Although primarily remembered for his extensive literary works and his political engagement, Scott was an advocate, judge and legal administrator by profession, and throughout his career combined his writing and editing work with his daily occupation as Clerk of Session and Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire. A prominent member of the Tory establishment in Edinburgh, Scott was an active member of the Highland Society and served a long term as President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1820–32). Scott gathered the disparate strands of contemporary novel-writing techniques into his own hands and harnessed them to his deep interest in Scottish history and his knowledge of antiquarian lore. The technique of the omniscient narrator and the use of regional speech, localised settings, sophisticated character delineation, and romantic themes treated in a realistic manner were all combined by him into virtually a new literary form, the historical novel. His influence on other European and American novelists was immediate and profound, and though interest in some of his books declined somewhat in the 20th century, his reputation remains secure. (Wikipedia)

Table of Contents

	Introduction| 0		Walter Scott	vii
	Historical Background of Quentin Durward	xxi
	Hints and Questions for the Study of Quentin Durward	xxvi
	Collateral Reading References	xxx
	Tabular View of Scott's Life and Works	xxxi
	Quentin Durward	1
	Scott's Introduction	479
	Notes	489
	Vocabulary	527

Editorial Reviews

The Edinburgh Edition respects Scott the artist by 'restoring' versions of the novels that are not quite what his first readers saw. Indeed, it returns to manuscripts that the printers never handled, as Scott's fiction before 1827 was transcribed before it reached the printshop. Each volume of the Edinburgh edition presents an uncluttered text of one work, followed by an Essay on the Text by the editor of the work, a list of the emendations that have been made to the first edition, explanatory notes and a glossary … The editorial essays are histories of the respective texts. Some of them are almost 100 pages long; when they are put together they constitute a fascinating and lucid account of Scott's methods of compostion and his financial manoeuvres. This edition is for anyone who takes Scott seriously.

Alexander and Wood give us a Quentin Durward that corresponds to no previous version of the novel. It is a social text for our moment in time which, given the publication history of the Waverley Novels, is eminently appropriate. This is the fifth volume of the EEWN to be edited by J. H. Alexander. In each the scholarly apparatus has been superb, and this edition of Quentin Durward is no exception, The Explanatory Notes, Historical Notes, Glossary, Map and Essay on the Text make this an indispensable work. For the study of Scott's first fictional foray on to the European continent.

Willl certainly be the definitive scholarly edition of Scott for the foreseeable future. The notes and emendation lists … evince years of thorough, diligent research into manuscripts, editions, sources, references, and allusions. The information will give the serious reader inestimable help in understanding Scott.

From the Publisher