Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Sir Walter Scott
-
Standard Name: Scott, Sir Walter
Birth Name: Walter Scott
Titled: Sir Walter Scott
Nickname: The Great Unknown
Used Form: author of Kenilworth
The remarkable career of Walter Scott
began with a period as a Romantic poet (the leading Romantic poet in terms of popularity) before he went on to achieve even greater popularity as a novelist, particularly for his historical fiction and Scottish national tales. His well-earned fame in both these genres of fiction has tended to create the impression that he originated them, whereas in fact women novelists had preceded him in each.
Set during the Crimean War, the novel recounts the tragic love affair between the young nurse Thierna and Captain Cyril Etherington.
Rosenman, Ellen Bayuk. Unauthorized Pleasures. Cornell University Press.
164
Longworth, Maria Theresa. Martyrs to Circumstance. R. Bentley.
95
The events of the narrative recall those of MTL
's own...
Intertextuality and Influence
Maria Edgeworth
ME
's father, who admired her, wished to wring recognition for her from others. His efforts may well have been counter-productive. One result, even during her lifetime, was suspicion that he had written some parts...
Health
Mary Bryan
MB
(now Bedingfield) sent an anguished appeal to Scott
for an actual gift of money—fifteen pounds—to enable her to see a London specialist about her sight.
Ragaz, Sharon. “Writing to Sir Walter: The Letters of Mary Bryan Bedingfield”. Cardiff Corvey: Reading the Romantic Text, No. 7.
Friends, Associates
Jane Porter
The Porters' mother lived a busy social life on limited means, and JP
kept up this tradition. Sir Walter Scott
was an early friend.
Mudge, Bradford Keyes, editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 116. Gale Research.
265
When she moved to London, JP
included among her friends...
Friends, Associates
Cecil Frances Alexander
The writers whom CFA
most admired during her childhood were Scott
, Gray
, and, to a lesser extent, Wordsworth
and Byron
.
Alexander, Cecil Frances. “Preface”. Poems, edited by William Alexander, Macmillan, p. v - xxix.
In the spring of 1809, AG
went to Edinburgh in search of a house. Invited to her home by the Duchess of Gordon
, she met there Sir Walter Scott
. Around the same time...
Friends, Associates
Anne Bannerman
A friend who was crucial in AB
's career was Robert Anderson
, editor of a famous poetry anthology and of the Edinburgh Magazine.
Elfenbein, Andrew. Romantic Genius: The Prehistory of a Homosexual Role. Columbia University Press.
130
Other important friends were John Leyden
(linguist, poet, and...
From her youth FS
was accustomed to mixing with distinguished people. Sir Walter Scott
, a friend of both of her parents, found her youthful company a relief when he was old and ill. In...
JB
first met Walter Scott
(a very new literary celebrity); she really got to know him by March 1808, when she visited him at 39 Castle Street, Edinburgh.
Carhart, Margaret S. The Life and Work of Joanna Baillie. Archon Books.
21-2
Friends, Associates
Lady Anne Barnard
LAB
's later social life in London is mentioned in the diary of Frances Burney
.
Graham, Henry Grey. Scottish Men of Letters in the Eighteenth Century. Adam and Charles Black.
345
Sir Walter Scott
renewed his early acquaintance with her after fifty years.
Friends, Associates
Lady Charlotte Bury
During her first marriage Lady Charlotte frequently entertained the literary celebrities of her day.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder.
Todd, Janet, editor. Dictionary of British Women Writers. Routledge.
She was a friend and patron of Sir Walter Scott
, and a friend (with her daughters) of the exiled Italian...