Ivanhoe (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

Scott, Walter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140436588 ISBN 13: 9780140436587

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2000

Synopsis

One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World'

'Fight on, brave knights! Man dies, but glory lives!'

Banished from England for seeking to marry against his father's wishes, Ivanhoe joins Richard the Lion Heart on a crusade in the Holy Land. On his return, his passionate desire is to be reunited with the beautiful but forbidden lady Rowena, but he soon finds himself playing a more dangerous game as he is drawn into a bitter power struggle between the noble King Richard and his evil and scheming brother John. The first of Scott's novels to address a purely English subject, Ivanhoe is set in a highly romanticized medieval world of tournaments and sieges, chivalry and adventure where dispossessed Saxons are pitted against their Norman overlords, and where the historical and fictional seamlessly merge.

'One of the most exciting stories in the language' A. N. Wilson
Edited with an introduction and notes by Graham Tulloch

About this title

Review:

Ivanhoe was the first of Scott's novels to be located wholly in England, and the first to take place in the middle ages. But it is far from being the fantastic, medievalist romance associated (in the critical imagination) with a visionary Britain that never was. This is a serious novel, the first in English to deal carefully with race. And at the same time, it is an incredibly exciting read for contemporary readers. Ivanhoe was the first of Scott's novels to be located wholly in England, and the first to take place in the middle ages. But it is far from being the fantastic, medievalist romance associated (in the critical imagination) with a visionary Britain that never was. This is a serious novel, the first in English to deal carefully with race. And at the same time, it is an incredibly exciting read for contemporary readers.

About the Author:

Walter Scott (1771-1832) was born and educated in Edinburgh. He trained as a lawyer and later entered the printing business. He published several volumes of poetry and turned down the offer of the laureateship before concentrating on fiction. He is credited with establishing the form of the historical novel and the short story.
Graham Tulloch is a Reader in English at Flinders University, South Australia. He has published several books on Scott.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0140436588
• ISBN 13: 9780140436587
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 544
• Editor: Tulloch Graham