Concetti Chiave
- Walter Scott was deeply influenced by the historical and legendary past of Scotland, drawing inspiration from local tales and legends.
- Scott's literary career began with poetry and translations, leading to the publication of his first novel, "Waverley".
- His literary works are categorized into three periods, each focusing on different historical contexts and settings, such as "Waverley", "Ivanhoe", and "Rob Roy".
- Scott is credited with founding the historical novel genre, intertwining fictional and historical events to explore human behavior in historical contexts.
- His narrative style and thematic focus on common people significantly influenced Alessandro Manzoni, emphasizing the role of everyday individuals in history.
Walter Scott
Walter Scott was born in Edimburgh in 1771. His family was attached to the feudal tradition. He was always fascinated by the legendary and historical past of his country. He read a lot of history and legends of Scotland, he listened to tales and stories from the humble people. He also learnt foreign languages such as French, Italian, Latin and German.
He attended at Edinburgh High School, studied law and worked in his father’s office. He began his literary activity as a poet translating German ballads and writing romantic tales then he published his first novel Waverley. He married Charlotte Charpentier and he set up a publishing house in which he was a silent partner. In 1812 he bought a property on the banks of the Tweed and spent a fortune building the castle of Abbotsford, here he lived in great splendor like a feudal lord. At this time England was hit by an economic depression and so he went bankrupt .He died in 1832 because of several strokes of paralysis his mental power failed.
La produzione letteraria di Scott
Scott’s literary production can be divided in three periods: the first period is formed by story of a very distant past and in this group we find Waverley, the story of the English family of Waverley, known for its Jacobite sympathies. It is set in the reign of George II of England and during the bloody days of 1745. Waverley is a novel where romance, historical events and folklore are blended. The second group is formed by story of distant past and in this group we find Ivanhoe a romance of adventure set in middle ages and describing the enmity between Saxons and Normans. The third group tells about Highland Scottish story and in this group we find Rob Roy the story of a kind of Scottish Robin Hood.
Il romanzo storico e l'influenza su Manzoni
Scott is the founder of a new literary form: the ‘historical novel’, which is a combination of fictional and historical events. The feature of the historical novel is to capture the connection between man’s behavior and action, and the historical conditions of the time in which he lives. The Napoleonic wars were the cause of the birth of this novel because they brought together men from different nations, men who spoke different languages and had different costumes. The protagonist of Scott’s novel is an average man who has got the qualities of the man of his time and becomes the living symbol of the solution of the historical crisis. Scott created fictional and real characters and altered great historical events setting them in poetical environments, he was also accused of “historical anachronism” because he attributed contemporary feelings to the protagonist of the past. The plot is based on a pattern called the “journey”. A traveler moves from a safe situation inside an ethnic group to come in contact with another one. Scott wrote several novel and with it influenced Manzoni in fact both the author have a 3rd person omniscient narrator and give an important role to humble and common people in history, the pretend to have found old documents and they use digressions especially concerning history.
Domande da interrogazione
- Qual è l'importanza di Walter Scott nella letteratura?
- Come si suddivide la produzione letteraria di Scott?
- Quali sono le caratteristiche principali del romanzo storico secondo Scott?
- In che modo Scott ha influenzato Manzoni?
- Quali sono alcuni dei romanzi più noti di Scott e i loro temi principali?
Walter Scott è considerato il fondatore del romanzo storico, una forma letteraria che combina eventi fittizi e storici, influenzando autori come Manzoni.
La produzione letteraria di Scott si divide in tre periodi: storie di un passato molto lontano, storie di un passato distante e storie delle Highlands scozzesi.
Il romanzo storico di Scott cattura la connessione tra il comportamento umano e le condizioni storiche, utilizzando personaggi fittizi e reali e ambientazioni poetiche.
Scott ha influenzato Manzoni attraverso l'uso di un narratore onnisciente in terza persona, l'importanza data alle persone umili nella storia e l'uso di digressioni storiche.
Tra i romanzi più noti di Scott ci sono "Waverley", che mescola romanticismo, eventi storici e folklore, "Ivanhoe", ambientato nel medioevo, e "Rob Roy", che racconta una storia scozzese simile a quella di Robin Hood.
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