Sir Walter Scott: A dusty exhumer of chronicles in the light of his art of Narration

Sir Walter Scott is without doubt the most widely acclaimed novelist of his day and has been one of the most influential literary figures from 1814 to the present. Scott is considered as “the father of the historical novel”. The historical novel is the most complicated form of novels because it consists of history. All of us know that history is based upon facts and novel is born out of imagination which comprises of so many elements of observation and experience. It is evident that the historical novel is of a very intricate nature. No doubt the historical novel which presents the historical atmosphere in an attractive manner, and has the historical quality to make the reader visualize all the events through the wordy descriptions, will be considered as successful. A novelist has to use his imagination in order to present the historical scene in a beautiful manner.

The right uses of the words, appropriate combinations of different expressions are the essential requirements of a proper historical novel. It is the duty of the historical novelist to make his readers feel that they are actually living in the days and among the people described. In fact it is the mastery of language and art of atmosphere building on the part of the historical novelist that creates a clear-cut distinction between historical novels and history. For the creation of atmosphere a novelist has to keep an eye on his words, language and narration. Walter Scott attaches great importance to the art of narration and says that “The interest becomes lost in a minute description of events not affecting the progress of tale.”

Present paper is an effort to probe into the mechanics of novel writing by Scott, in respect of the narrative techniques employed by him as a historical novelist.