Sir Walter Scott-the Great Unknown-2 Volume Set in Slipcase

by Edgar Johnson

Two hardcovers in slipcase

Genres: Biography

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Author of biographies of Charles Dickens and Sir Walter Scott. Professor Johnson wrote seven other books, including two novels and a 1945 anthology, "A Treasury of Satire." Husband of Eleanor Kraus, who co-wrote with him "The Dickens Theatrical Reader." He died at the age of 93.

Reviews

[Peveril · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two volumes. I really enjoyed the first even having read several other biographies. The second, shorter, volumes deals mainly with the financial speculations, collapse, ruin, decay and death.

[Jean Blackwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book if you are very seriously interested in Sir Walter Scott and his works. The book also helps give you a fairly good idea what was going on in Scotland and the world during the years he lived. But having plowed through almost all of the 1289 pages of two volumes I ended up feeling a bit dissatisfied with the work. the [problem was that the author had an enormous amount of information directly from journals and letters to, from, and about Scott and he chose to write much of the book directly quoting from these. As a result we learned way too much minutia about Scott's day-to-day activities, while the author failed to make a stronger effort to place his life in the context of the society and times. We also find ourselves plowing through endless pages about Sir Walter's financial affairs using terminology that is beyond the comprehension of a 21st century American reader. Finally, he fails to tell us about the lives of Sir Walter's children after his death, which I found very disappointing.

If you like Sir Walter Scott's books and are curious about his life you might do better to read a shorter biography. He was quite an amazing and admirable man whose works are sadly neglected and under-appreciated in our time.

[Paul Varner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive biography: 2volumes, massive, detailed, scholarly.