Watching a bewildering world from the middle of nowhere
Walter Scott in his study, with a cat Sir Walter Scott’s home, Abbotsford, is an enchanting place. I was not surprised on my visit to Abbotsford to see that he had cats, including a favorite cat, Hinse, whose portrait is among the many portraits in Abbotsford’s armoury room. I said to Ken that any writer … Continue reading “Cats and Sir Walter Scott”
As an amateur scholar of Sir Walter Scott’s novels, I’m very interested in non-amateur Sir Walter Scott scholarship. As far as I can tell, though, not all that many people pursue an academic interest in Sir Walter Scott. Scott has fallen out of fashion. As I’ve argued before, we’re overdue for a Walter Scott revival. … Continue reading “The Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club”
I had high hopes for The Bride of Lammermoor, the sixth novel by Sir Walter Scott that I have read. But it let me down. Though there was some fine Scottish gothic atmosphere — seaside castles, witches, and violent storms — the story really came down to little more than youthful folly and parental cruelty … Continue reading “My last Walter Scott post for a while, I promise”
I’ve written here in the past about how, when I can’t find newer fiction that appeals to me (often the case), I read a classic. It was back in 2013 when I read The Antiquary. Last year I read The Heart of Mid-Lothian, and earlier this year I started (but didn’t finish) Ivanhoe. I found … Continue reading “We’re overdue for a Sir Walter Scott revival”
Once again, unable at present to find any newer fiction that seems worthwhile, I have turned to Sir Walter Scott — this time, Ivanhoe. Reading Sir Walter Scott can be hard work for contemporary readers. Even in the early 1800s when his novels were being published, Scott’s style would have been pretty florid, I think. … Continue reading “Sir Walter Scott: a great writer, but oddly Frenchified”
I have had a heck of a time finding reading material this winter. Though the iPad and the Kindle app make it extremely easy to acquire and sample books, I generally start three or four books for every book I finish, just because most books aren’t worth finishing (to my tastes, at least), and I … Continue reading “Sir Walter Scott”
If you are a native speaker of English, then Scots is a language that you already 65 percent (more or less) understand. Totally aside from my interest in Scotland and Sir Walter Scott, I find that fact, from linguistics, fascinating. At first I conceived of Scots as just a dialect of English. But scholars see … Continue reading “The New Testament in Scots”
The Royal Pub, Edinburgh The pubs alone justify a trip to Scotland. The lack of pub culture, as I often have complained, is one of America’s worst flaws. Pubs are a social glue, and America is increasingly an unglued kind of place. Edinburgh pubs can be very grand. Village pubs are small and cozy, almost … Continue reading “Scottish pubs”
Abbotsford is Sir Walter Scott’s home, at Melrose in the Scottish Borders. The place is fascinating. Scott’s library is intact, and it is enormous. In fact I suspect that Scott’s books are worth as much as his house. I learned something new about Scott. He had a favorite cat who often sat on his desk … Continue reading “Abbotsford”
Chat GPT: Please make a lifelike image of a stray cat walking along a street in Edinburgh, near Waverley station and the Walter Scott monument. Ready or not, artificial intelligence is going to become a part of your life. Where we are now with AI reminds me of where we were in the 1980s with … Continue reading “A personal AI road map for the present”