Old Mortality, Volume 1.

Scott, Walter, 1771-1832Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 554K words
Chapters: 56

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Old Mortality, Volume 1. by Walter Scott. Author: Scott, Walter, 1771-1832. Language: English. Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature. Release Date: Aug 22, 2004

Editor's review

Old Mortality, Volume 1 is a Scottish historical novel in Scott's Waverley series, built around the conflict between Covenanters and Royalists. Blending individual fates and questions of faith into historical narrative, it shows Scott's characteristic method: interweaving real events with fictional characters and rendering the complexities of political and religious strife through everyday scenes and dialogue. This opening volume lays out the characters and initial conflicts, and rewards close reading by anyone interested in Scottish history or the English literary tradition. Readers may note the shifts in narrative perspective and the use of dialect speech, both key to Scott's narrative style. As a public-domain ebook from Project Gutenberg, this edition is easy to obtain and search, making it suitable for close textual study or course reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in Scottish history and religious conflict
University students studying the tradition of the British historical novel
Readers of Scott who wish to read the Waverley series systematically
Teachers and researchers who need a public-domain English text for literary analysis

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer fast-paced plots and modern narrative techniques
Beginners with little patience for Scots dialect and historical background
Those who only want excerpts from Scott's best-known works and do not plan to go deeper into the series

Reading tips

Familiarize yourself with the 17th-century Scottish Covenanter background before starting; the characters' allegiances will then be clearer.
Pay attention to the different narrative layers and dialect dialogue; read chapter by chapter at a slower pace and keep notes on character relationships.
This volume is only the opening; read it together with the subsequent volumes and avoid judging the plot's direction too early.
If the English original proves difficult, use a reliable Chinese translation or an annotated edition alongside it.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this a complete story or the first part of a longer work?

This is Volume 1 of Old Mortality, the opening portion of a long novel. It mainly establishes the background and character relationships, and the plot continues in later volumes. Read it together with the remaining volumes to grasp the complete story.

Can I understand it without any background in Scottish history?

You can, but some support helps. The novel involves the political and religious conflict between Covenanters and Royalists; without that background, characters' motives and allegiances are easily confused. Read a basic historical introduction to the period first, or choose an annotated edition.

What are the features of this edition?

This edition is released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain ebook, offering the English original for free access, full-text searching, and quotation. It has no detailed modern editorial notes or introduction, so it suits readers who are already prepared or who use it alongside other reference materials.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Scott, Walter, 1771-1832 Author

Walter Scott (Scott, Walter, 1771-1832) was a British writer known for his historical novels and narrative poetry. The library holds 94 of his works, including the representative Ivanhoe and Waverley Or ‘Tis Sixty Years Since — Complete, as well as The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 2. His historical novels often draw on the history of Scotland and England, weaving real historical events into the fates of fictional characters, with unhurried plotting and vivid characterization; they exercised a profound influence on the development of the European historical novel. Ivanhoe, set in medieval England, is among his most widely read works. Publicly available information on his nationality, dates of birth and death, and other biographical details is limited, so no speculation is offered here.