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Title: Kenilworth: A Romance (Penguin Classics) by Walter, Sir Scott, J. H. Alexander ISBN: 0-14-043654-5 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: September, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Good Scott
Comment: Kenilworth is set in 1575 during the reign of Elizabeth I. It is the story of Amy Robsart who has secretly married Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester. But Leicester is the Queen's favourite and fearful that he would lose his status if his marriage became public he keeps Amy secluded in Cumnor Hall. However, such secrets are hard to keep in an Elizabethan England full of plots and intrigues between factions vying for Elizabeth's favour and as Leicester entertains the Queen at Kenilworth castle the truth will out.
As usual Scott tells a good story in Kenilworth. He takes as his point of departure the known incidents of history and weaves his plot around them. He is not always faithful to the historical record, but he captures the mood of the time. His characterisation of Elizabeth is particularly fine, showing her fair and just but swift to take offence and with a devastating temper. Scott builds great tension into his plot, because it is a story rooted in a period where one false step can bring instant downfall, where the highest can be brought to the block in an instant, if Elizabeth's capricious mood turns angry.
Kenilworth is quite a difficult read. Scott's scholarship was such that he often uses the language of Elizabethan times and continually refers to historical events and literary texts which are now obscure. It is for this reason that it is important to read an edition of Scott which uses the best modern experts to clarify and explain the text. The Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, published by Edinburgh and Columbia University Press, is the definitive edition of Scott and is a stunning example of modern scholarship. The glossary is full and the notes are detailed and useful. The editor, J.H. Alexander, has gone back to Scott's original manuscript and first edition to provide a text of Kenilworth which is in a number of crucial respects different from that which has been commonly read since 1831. In the end the most important thing is that this edition makes Scott easier to read and easier to enjoy. Scott ought to be enjoyed. He was one of the most popular novelists of his day and with a little practice, reading him becomes a great pleasure. Kenilworth is quite a good place to begin an acquaintance with Scott's writing. Being set in England, it has no dialogue in the old Scots dialect, which can be difficult nowadays even for Scottish people to understand. Moreover it has a fine story with many interesting characters both virtuous and villainous. It may not be one of Scott's very greatest novels, but it is a good one and well worth reading even if at times it may be something of a struggle.
Rating: 5
Summary: One of Scott's finest
Comment: This is a brilliant evocation of the world of Elizabeth the First as seen through the events surrounding a visit by the queen to Kenilworth, the mansion of her favorite. The descriptions and characters are wonderful. The tragic ending is handled in a manner worthy of Shakespeare. Indeed, I must say that if Shakespeare had lived a few centuries later and written historical novels, the result would have been the same as here.
Rating: 3
Summary: Kind of a disappointment, I'm sorry to say
Comment: I like Sir Walter Scott. I like his heroic characters, his idealistic heroes and his romantic (in the 19th century sense)ideals. "Ivanhoe" is one of my all time favorites (moviegoers, don't get the Robert Taylor verson, hold out for the one with Anthony Andrews!) Scott was to the romantic novel what Errol Flynn was to the 1930's swashbuckler: he defined it! Waverley is one of his real "Scottish" novels, and I liked that a lot. But I have always had a hard time with "Kenilworth." It drags on too long, the plot moves at snail's pace, and darn it, there ain't no action! Maybe I wasn't in the mood for it, but I have to say, I expected more. I don't know why this book has had such notoriety, and I hate to say this about a "classic," but I'm sorry, this book was really a disappointment. But I will say this: the Penguin (or what I like to call "Harlequin for Nerds") edition was very attractively packaged. But alas, I have to admit, I still judge a book by its cover!
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Title: Redgauntlet (World Classics) by Walter, Sir Scott, Kathryn Sutherland ISBN: 0192836900 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: January, 1998 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: The Bride of Lammermoor (Oxford World's Classics) by Sir Walter Scott, Fiona Robertson ISBN: 0192835440 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: August, 1998 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: The Heart of Mid-Lothian (Penguin Classics) by Walter, Sir Scott, Tony Inglis ISBN: 0140431292 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: December, 1994 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Waverley by Walter Scott, Andrew Hook ISBN: 0140430717 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: February, 1981 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott ISBN: 0812565657 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 15 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $3.99 |
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