Old Mortality by Sir Walter Scott

Old Mortality by Sir Walter Scott

Old Mortality (1816), which many consider the finest of Scott's Waverley novels, is a swift-moving historical romance that places an anachronistically liberal hero against the forces of fanaticism in seventeenth-century Scotland, in the period infamous as the `killing time'. Its central character, Henry Morton, joins the rebels in order to fight Scotland's royalist oppressors, little as he shares the Covenanters' extreme religious beliefs. He is torn between his love for a royalist's granddaughter and his loyalty to his downtrodden countrymen. As well as being a tale of divided loyalties, the novel is a crucial document in the cultural history of modern Scotland. Scott, himself a supporter of the union between Scotland and England, was trying to exorcise the violent past of a country uncomfortably coming to terms with its status as part of a modern United Kingdom. This novel is in itself a significant political document, in which Scott can be seen to be attempting to create a new centralist Scottish historiography, which is not the political consensus of his own time, the seventeenth century, or today. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Peter Davidson, Professor of fluid mechanics, University of Cambridge

Peter Davidson is currently Professor of Fluid Mechanics at the University of Cambridge. He has worked as a research engineer in industry in both the UK and USA and was awarded the Institute of Materials prize in 1996 for best paper in non-ferrous metallurgy. He has authored over 100 publications in
the fields of magnetohydrodynamics and turbulence.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780199555307
ISBN 10	0199555303
Title	Old Mortality
Author	Sir Walter Scott
Series	Oxford World's Classics
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2009-05-28
Number of pages	624
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.