Or, Ach, aht's a wee bit 'o gude readin'!
The above is a weak attempt on my part to transcribe a Scottish accent, but it is certainly no weaker than Sir Walter Scott's versions in Waverley, or as it is fully titled, Waverley; Or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since.
The first historical novel ever written in the English language, it was taken up, put down, and taken up again by its author over a period of nine years, finally hitting the coffee houses in 1814. The Sixty Years portion of the title was there from the first sharpening of the quill, and should be counted back from Scott's first scribblings on the subject in 1805--setting the novel, at last, in 1745, during the last of Scotland's armed uprisings on behalf of the exiled would-be James III, and against the Hanoverian electorate.
A product of the Romantic Era, Scott was a contemporary of Byron, Keats, Shelley, and all that sort of ilk, but he didn't make the guest list for their famous retreat in Switzerland, and criticism usually puts him down as a far more sober and far less miserable sort of fellow. Romanticism is very much a subject of Waverley, and through its titular main character the movement as it is commonly understood gets a lukewarm review at best.
As a read, it's a bit rough going at first--but it picks up a good deal as it progresses.
Stiff Upper Lips and Frozen Lower Extremities
The main cast of this novel is mostly your North-of-Tweed set, and then again north of Edinburgh. Many are the kilted. Scott himself lived up to his name on the nation-of-origin front, but chose for his main character an Englishman.
- Edward Waverley: English. Jacobite, mostly. Heir to the substantial estate of Waverley-Honour in England. A Romantic in his literary and aesthetic sensibilities, willing to fight for something, if someone would only tell him what. Falls in love with predictable regularity. Passionate, but a bit inconsistent, as the name suggests. Referred to by the narrator, and henceforth by me, as "our Hero."
- Everard Waverley: English. Jacobite. Uncle and main benefactor of the above. Heraldric symbol: three ermines passant.
- The Baron of Bradwardine: Scottish. Jacobite. House and lands at Tully-Veolan in the Scottish lowlands. Friend to Everard and Edward. Amply educated. Look for ostentatious erudition and untranslated Latin quotations. Heraldric symbol: two bears rampant.
- Rose Bradwardine: Scottish. Jacobite. Daughter of above. Are you seeing the obvious yet. Simple, pure, dedicated, loyal, fairly uninteresting.
- Fergus Mac-Ivor: Scottish. Jacobite. Highlander. AKA Vich Ian Vohr. Chief of Clan Ivor, a young, smart, charming fighter jockeying for position following the successful campaign against Hanover. To be liked, but not trusted.
- Flora Mac-Ivor: Scottish. Jacobite. Highlander. Sister to above. Cool, reserved, musical, lyrical, beautiful. Are you seeing the even more obvious yet. Only has eyes for Stuarts. Approach with caution.
- Colonel Talbot: English. Whig. Rich as all hell. Friend to Everard Waverley. An officer and a gentleman in the most classically understood fashion.
- Charles Edward Stuart: Scottish? English? French, even? Jacobite, obviously. AKA Bonnie Prince Charlie, AKA the Chevalier, AKA the Pretender. Leader of the rebels. Charming, suave, savvy, intelligent, loyal, honorable. All good qualities in a leader. Portrayed very favorably by Scott.
There a host of lesser characters as well, upon whom the plot largely seems to turn, but they are too numerous to mention. None of them are real, except that last fellow, but all are either based on actual historical personages or constructed from Scott's experiences in his home country.
Road Trip!
Like many a famous novel or poem of its time, Waverley takes as its plots points points of geography. There is something of a tour of Scotland going on as Waverley chases down his love and destiny as part of the Jacobite cause. Scott uses the trip to fictionalize "the '45," as its called, and to illustrate some of the more salient features of Scottish life and culture. And it's less to do with whisky than you'd think.
There are highlanders, lowlanders, Whigs, Loyalists, highwaymen, cattle rustlers, village idiots, thief-takers, Clan chieftains, soldiers, civilians, assassins, mercenaries, nobles, peasants, and princes, collectively creating a sociopolitical environment that could never possibly have been conducive to long-term stability and seeing a cause through all the way from Falkirk to London, which, of course, they didn't.
The plot's fairly straightforward. Edward Waverely more or less accidently takes up with a bunch of Jacobites, despite being an officer of the English army, falls in love with a Scottish woman or two, rattles his saber a whole lot in a show of manly courage on behalf of the cause, avoids a duel here, is taken prisoner there, makes friends with his enemies and enemies with his friends, watches some of both die, saves face on all sides, and despite committing what really is high treason, gets away, in the end...scot free.
The pieces come together through a series of unlikely, but not deus ex machina, plot-twists and set-ups that may very well be an accurate portrayal of HOW TO: Get things done in early 19th Century Britain. Letters go astray or are intercepted (typical!), friends show up from absolutely nowhere (small world, innit?), and of course, everything is explained at the end.
So we have a historical novel that is part romance, part adventure, part political, part satire, part travelogue, part mystery.
Why Would I Read This?
You probably wouldn't. It's better than Ivanhoe, which you hated in high school, but not as seductive as anything by Byron, nor as accessible as Austen, or trippy as Coleridge. But it does have EVERYTHING. Love, hate, battles, chases, good scenery, swords, cannons, pistols. I really rather enjoyed it, as I said, and think there's a lot more going on there than meets the eye.
By marrying the Jacobite cause--lost from the get-go, and by 1814 deader than Charles II--to the Romantic, Scott makes his commentary on both, and by putting Waverley at the center of it all, the whole venture comes off attractive, well-intentioned, and meaningful, but likewise chaotic, poorly strategized, and overwhelmingly doomed. It's romantic enough to say, as the Pretender was alleged to have done, "I have flung away the scabbard;" one can imagine Byron saying it, or words to similar effect, as he tossed himself off of something high for a damn good cause, or even just to impress the chicks.
Which brings us back to Waverley's motivations. His passion is less for Bonnie P.C. than for Flora Mac-I., or, failing her, Rose Bradwardine. It rather cheapens the whole military affair, reduces it so much lovelorn nonsense and Romantic melodrama. As Scott, and the other second-generation romantics couched it, the Romantic cause was invariably the losing one--victory and general well-being are not Romantic.
As you're reading (there's no film version), look for the following issues to come up: identity, choice, nationalism, spatial mapping, autonomy. Romanticism--Byron, at least--was big into that last one, and Scott may, through this novel, be saying something about it.
Marginalia
Just a few tidbits...
- Waverley was initially published anonymously. It wasn't until the third edition came out that Scott 'fessed up. The author was known, and he came to be known afterward, as "The author of Waverley."
- A huge amount of Scot's knowledge of the Highlands came from other people's notes, and his mastery of the languages--who speaks Scots, English, Gaelic, etc.--is nowhere near perfect.
- Before Waverley, Scott was known as a poet. Jane Austen had this to say: "Walter Scott has no business to write novels, especially good ones--It is not fair.--He has Fame and Profits enough as a Poet, and should not be taking bread out of other people's mouths.--I do not like him, and do not mean to like Waverley if I can help it--but I fear I must."