Sir Walter Scott land
Have you ever tried reading a Walter Scott novel? I had a go at Waverley many years ago but couldn’t get on with it. Obviously a lot of people rate him. Or rated him. Sir Walter Scott practically defined what it was to come from the other end of this island. They even named the nation after him.
I was visiting my – ahem – Scottish relatives in Edinburgh last weekend and it struck me that Sir Walter Scott is probably unique in defining national character. Edinburgh is the best capital city of any country in my opinion - not that I've sampled that many, as I prefer open spaces. Snuggled down among its beautiful buildings, their stones blackened with history, and looking out at the bare green peak of Arthur's Seat beyond Edinburgh's towers, I reckon I can understand what Walt was trying to capture. Edinburgh even has a writer’s museum devoted in part to Scott and his scribblings. I didn’t go in because it didn’t sound very exciting - a bit dusty and smelling of chewed pencils - but I did like his monument, a marvellous interpretation in stone of Thunderbird 3.
It also occurred to me that an author, somewhere, is missing a trick – Sir Walter’s trick. Nobody has yet, for example, renamed themselves Sir Robert Eng and written about the English nation. Obviously, I can’t do it because I’m on the wrong side of the Tamar but as a legitimate marketing ploy I reckon it could really work for the right person.
I was visiting my – ahem – Scottish relatives in Edinburgh last weekend and it struck me that Sir Walter Scott is probably unique in defining national character. Edinburgh is the best capital city of any country in my opinion - not that I've sampled that many, as I prefer open spaces. Snuggled down among its beautiful buildings, their stones blackened with history, and looking out at the bare green peak of Arthur's Seat beyond Edinburgh's towers, I reckon I can understand what Walt was trying to capture. Edinburgh even has a writer’s museum devoted in part to Scott and his scribblings. I didn’t go in because it didn’t sound very exciting - a bit dusty and smelling of chewed pencils - but I did like his monument, a marvellous interpretation in stone of Thunderbird 3.
It also occurred to me that an author, somewhere, is missing a trick – Sir Walter’s trick. Nobody has yet, for example, renamed themselves Sir Robert Eng and written about the English nation. Obviously, I can’t do it because I’m on the wrong side of the Tamar but as a legitimate marketing ploy I reckon it could really work for the right person.
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