Walter Scott（1771—1832 ）

Sir Walter Scott, Scottish novelist and poet, is most famous for his historical novels. Scott had strong interest in the old Border tales and ballads since his early childhood. He attended Edinburgh High School and studied arts and law at Edinburgh University. He practiced law and was appointed sheriff depute of the county of Selkirk and then he became clerk to the Court of Session in Edinburgh. He died three years later after he had a stroke in 1830.

Scott started his literary career by translating and writing poems. He completed a series of novels on the Scottish theme known as “The Waverley Novels”such as Waverley（1814）, Rob Roy（1817）, and The Heart of Midlothian（1818）. Then he turned to English history and other themes including Ivenhoe（1819）, the best known of Scott's novels today, and The Monastery（1820）, Kenilworth（1821）, and Quentin Durward（1823）etc. With his deep knowledge of the Scottish history and society, Scott presented his mastery of storytelling and dialogues in his novels. He focused on the lives of both great and ordinary people caught up in violent, dramatic changes in history. His rich and ornate literary style combined energy with decorum, lyric beauty with clarity of description. In addition, Scott was also one of the earliest short story writers in English.