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Scott's Siege of Malta book sparks controversy
By MaltaMedia News
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:17:48 AM
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Sir Walter Scott's last works, The Siege Of Malta and the incomplete Bizarro, have controversially been published almost two hundred years after his death.
His last two works have never been printed in full as his family and
close friends felt their poor content - attributed to the three strokes
he suffered towards the end of his life - would tarnish the reputation
of
one of Scotland's greatest writers.
The decision of Edinburgh University Press to publish both works – corrected, and in a combined volume – has led to cries of dismay at what some have called “literary grave robbing".
Scott penned his final novels in 1831 and 1832 after suffering three strokes which took a considerable toll on his linguistic abilities. The deterioration of his health is reflected in his last manuscripts which are full of errors and spelling mistakes.
The late John Buchan, who read both works while researching a biography of Scott in 1932, remarked: "It may be hoped that no literary resurrectionist will ever be guilty of the crime of giving them to the world." A century earlier, Scott's son-in-law JG Lockhart came to the same conclusion.
The Siege Of Malta, of which only a few extracts have been previously released, is part novel, part historical account, of the defence of the island by the Order of St John of Jerusalem against a much larger Moorish force. Bizarro is a fictionalised account of an Italian brigand and Rob Roy figure and is billed as a tale of passion, murder and revenge.
Permission to publish the manuscripts was given by the executors of the late Dame Jean Maxwell-Scott as well as by the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library, where the original works are stored.
The editors said that they made several amendments to the original writings. An explanatory chapter in the book states: "For all that Scott repeats himself, uses the wrong word and sometimes loses control of the shape of his sentences, there is no mistaking the onward drive of his story. Omission of a word, substitution of another word, reshaping the grammar of a sentence will usually resolve the problems."
In his last days, Scott produced words such as "vararious" and "assossociations", while in some cases he has used "sound" where "seemed" would be more appropriate, and on one occasion he used the word "cream" for "crime". Scans of the original manuscripts are included with the volume in a CD-Rom.
The editors defend the decision to publish the two works, saying that, "Nearly 200 years after they were first written, today's readers finally have the chance to read Scott's very last pieces of fiction. In whatever form they are encountered, these are unique and moving texts by a master of resonant storytelling."
The Siege Of Malta is described as "an epic tale of endurance", while the unfinished Bizarro is given as evidence that Scott "had not lost his power to tell a good story".
Scott wrote the books after trips to the Mediterranean which he hoped would help to improve his health.
© Copyright 2008 by MaltaMedia.com
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