Reviews 21: Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
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- Опубликовано: 9 сен 2024
- In this video I talk about Sir Walter Scott's 1820* novel, Ivanhoe. I give a brief biographical sketch of the author, a summary of the novel, and then assess its strengths and weaknesses.
Works mentioned during the course of this video:
Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage Part 1 (1812)
Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847)
This article on how Scott's response to his financial troubles reshaped the publishing industry is fascinating:
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All images of characters from Ivanhoe (except Robin Hood) are taken from the 1982 movie adaptation, full details here:
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*Ivanhoe was serialized, beginning in 1819, but was not published as a complete novel until the following year. I know some people care about such details.
**I made a mistake re where Athelstane's funeral takes place; it's not at Cedric's home, but at Athelstane's castle at Coningsburgh.
***Re my comment on the similarity between Ulrica and Bertha Mason in Jane Eyre, a journal article notes Charlotte's huge attachment to Scott's works and that: "Miss F. Ratchford briefly indicated the connection between the old Saxon woman Ulrica in Scott's novel and Rochester's mad wife Bertha Mason as long ago as 1941."
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PLEASE NOTE: I apologize that this video comes in at just under 20 minutes; I just couldn't seem to cut it down any further, and it was, in part, a test to see if I've lost any of my cognitive capacity as I continue my struggle to recover from Covid-19. The next video, I promise, will be shorter, and the first one focused solely on a work of poetry.
#booktube #bookreview #literature
Enjoyed your biography of Scott and hearing your views. I tried reading Ivanhoe many years ago and agree with the comments, totally agree with 'Ivan-slow' (!). In some respect I found Scott's view of the 12th century, and the role of Jewish people- York of course saw the Clifford's Tower massacre of Jews in 1190-far more interesting rather than the novel itself.
Please don't be put off reading more Scott by Ivanhoe. He is one of my favorite writers and I strongly recommend his gothic romance, Guy Mannering, as well as Rob Roy, The Heart of Midlothian, and The Bride of Lammermoor.
Ageed, the two principal Jewish characters were the most interesting, along with the madwoman in the castle (very Jane Eyre).
Very interesting review of Ivanhoe, detailed and precise, which is appreciated. This novel seems packed with action, drama and lenghthy moments too. Thank you very much for taking the time to provide all the biographical information, and introducing the characters, the events occurring and context. It's very helpful for people like me who haven't read this novel. I suppose it's worth reading it despite its flaws, but maybe not, if one can choose, the first book to pick up by Sir Walter Scott.
I like the reference to the character of Bertha from Jane Eyre. The parallel between both ladies and the fire is quite powerful.
The article you've shared about Scott's financial issues and the publishing industry is extremely interesting! Haven't they invented the "book consumerism"!?
Thank you for the long video. Hope it has been therapeutic for you, and that you feel reassured re possible consequences of your illness. You definitely look better, and back to your dynamism. It's nice to see you recovering little by little.
Thanks, as ever, for your kind comment. I did a little more reading and it seems Charlotte Brontë was deeply familiar with Scott's works, so the link between Ulrica and Bertha is most likely a direct borrowing. Sadly, this probable link was pointed out by a critic in... 1941.
Yes, definitely not where I would start with Scott. I've read three of his novels thus far, and Rob Roy and The Bride of Lammermoor were far, far better.
I did feel better after making the video. It doesn't matter that much if it gets a lot of views or not, I just wanted to see if I could handle making my videos in my normal way and the answer is yes (this one had 15 parts to stitch together, plus adding the graphics).
The next video will follow your suggestion and be about Anna Letitia Barbauld's Eighteen Hundred and Eleven (along with a few quotations from other progress poems). Not too deep, but just to encourage viewers who haven't read her toward giving her work a try.
Thank you for your reply with all this very interesting information!
It's crazy and yes, sad too, that the probable link between Charlotte Brontë's Bertha and Sir Walter Scott's Ulrica has been made so late and at such a time of our History.
I'm taking note of your suggestions re Scott's novels to read in priority.
So happy for you that you're back to your normal way of making videos. You've challenged yourself with this one for sure, and you've succeeded. This is good news! Plus I can see that you're getting new subscribers, this is encouraging.
Oh thank you in advance for making a video dedicated to Anna Letitia Barbauld's poem! It's an absolute treasure, and she needs to be more talked about and read. You can do her justice.
Keep on taking good care of yourself Jason, and many thanks for all your work.
I just reread the paper I wrote for the graduate program on Barbauld, Byron, and Hemans, and frightened myself in the process. I can't believe I did so much research for just a single paper! I could see where the writing/argument could be improved, but my energy levels don't feel like they're where they were just two years ago.
Things were certainly different two years ago for you. You were not struggling against a virus and its effects, you were probably in a dynamic that pushed you forward in order to achieve a goal of huge importance to you. Today you are fighting to get back to your health and strength, you've graduated and got a place on the PhD program. So yes, you had to work like crazy to achieve, brilliantly in my opinion, your goal with success. Hence the stunning amount of research for "just a single paper". Could you know, or even suspect, all your hard work then would be useful for a future YT video?
That's funny, yes, looking forward, who would know? But I have to reorganize and simplify what I wrote, so I think I will do another non-fiction recommendation while I work on the structure of the Barbauld video.