Product Description

Guy Mannering is an astrologer who only half-believes in his art. Instead he places his faith in patriarchal power, wealth and social position. But the Scotland of this novel is a nation in which the old hierarchies are breaking down and Guy must learn the limits of the nabob's authority in a society in which each social group - from gypsies and smugglers, to Edinburgh lawyers, landowners and Border store farmers - lives by its own laws.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #282148 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 552 pages

About the Author
Born and educated in Edinburgh, Walter Scott (1771-1832) is credited with establishing the form of the historical novel. Claire Lamont is Professor of English Romantic Literature at University of Newcastle and series editor for Walter Scott in Penguin Classics. P. D. Garside (editor) is Reader in English at University of Wales, Cardiff. Jane Millgate is Professor of English at Victoria College, University of Toronto, Canada. She is the author of Walter Scott: The Making of the Novelist.

Customer Reviews

The Original - and the Best!
Nobody much reads Scott today - well that's their loss! Scott was the original romantic/historical novelist and the best of his fiction - which very much includes "Guy Mannering" - stands up extremely well today. So why don't people read Scott? - much of the problem in his greatest novels revolves round the dated Scottish dialect spoken by the lead characters - and his own general prose can be somewhat ponderous. So what are the pluses? Well basically it's character,character and character! Like Dickens, Scott's best characters leap fully formed out of the page and are intensely memorable. In "Guy Mannering" we have good hearted farmer Dandie Dinmont and the wild gypsy Meg Merrilies and a variety of lesser characters equally strongly drawn. And then there is plot - plots can creak somewhat and,as here,be dependant on some unlikely coincidences but by and large Scott's plots are strong,they drive on - and they work. "Guy Mannering" has a particularly strong plot of a kidnapped heir returning to his stolen lands and it's all very satisfying. Everyone should idealy be forced to read one of Scott's best novels - the typical reaction would be " well I wouldn't normally have read that - but actually it was absolutely superb". So - give yourself a treat and read "Guy Mannering" and you'll soon be engrossed in the exciting adventurous world of 18th.century south-west scotland with kidnaps,pirates,murders,and unrequited love.