Unit 4

 

Walter Scott

The famous English writer Walter Scott (1771-1832) is the founder of the historical novel in English literature. He was greatly interested in the past of his country and studied it by documents, history and legends.

Among the historical novels of Walter Scott, Ivanhoe is one of the best. It describes the events of the 12th century during the reign of Richard I the Lion-Hearted. The power in England at that time was in the hands of the Normans, who oppressed the native Anglo-Saxon population. There were serious conficts between the Anglo-Saxon nobility and the Normans. In his novel Walter Scott wanted to show how, as years passed, the Anglo-Saxons and the Normans became one nation.