Historical Fiction Scott, Sir Walter: The Talisman (Illustrated and annotated) v1. 26 September 2013

[AlexBell]

Sir Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh in 1771. Two years later he contracted poliomyelitis, was lame in his right leg for the rest of his life, and was unwell throughout his childhood and adolescence. He entered Edinburgh University in 1789, graduated as a lawyer in 1792, and practiced in law and law administration for the rest of his life. He became a partner in a friend's publishing company in 1805, and half owner in 1809. The company collapsed in 1813 and although Scott was saved from bankruptcy by a patron he worked very hard until his death to meet the debts of the firm's creditors.

In 1818 he led a team which recovered the Scottish Crown Jewels in Edinburgh Castle, and was rewarded with a baronetcy by the Prince Regent. He was elected President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1820, and in 1822 played the leading role in organising the visit of George IV to Edinburgh.

He started writing poetry in 1792, and The Lay of the Last Minstrel was published in 1805 to great acclaim. He was offered but declined the Poet Laureateship in 1813.

Scott's first novel, Waverly, was published anonymously in 1814, and is said to be the most successful English novel of all time. He wrote forty or so other novels and more poetry until just before his death in 1832 and is said to be the first writer in English who was famous in his own lifetime.

The Talisman was published in 1825, and is set during the Third Crusade in 1191-2. It is a historical romance, with the accent very much on the romance rather than the history. As he himself writes:

'It may be said, in general, that most of the incidents introduced in the following tale are fictitious; and that reality, where it exists, is only retained in the characters of the piece.'

Scott was the first or among the first writers to praise and respect Muslims.

The text is based on Project Gutenberg 1136-h.htm, The Internet Archive, and the Everyman's Library edition. The images were taken from the Internet Archive. The spelling has been modernised. The footnotes which were taken from one or other text are marked in square brackets, and the annotations (consisting of definitions, scripture references, or comments on the most flagrant historical errors) are marked by curly brackets.

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[crich70]

Two years later he contracted poliomyelitis

It sounds like he was very lucky. If the polio had taken another turn the world would never have gotten to hear of Ivanhoe, Quentin Durwood and the rest.