The Black Dwarf (novel)

infobox Book |
name = The Black Dwarf
orig title =
translator =


author = Sir Walter Scott
cover_artist =
country = Scotland
language = English, Lowland Scots
series = Tales of My Landlord (1st series)
genre = Historical novel
publisher =
release_date = 1816
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
followed_by =

Walter Scott's novel "The Black Dwarf" was part of his "Tales of My Landlord", 1st series, published along with "Old Mortality" on 2 December 1816 by William Blackwood, Edinburgh, and John Murray, London. It was originally to be one of four volumes with separate stories in the series, but "Old Mortality" came to occupy three of them. Only "The Black Dwarf" filled a single volume.

Introduction

The introduction to the "Black Dwarf" introduces us to the character Jedediah Cleishbotham, whom Scott had as a fictional editor of the four Landlord series. It is here that we have the most complete view of this character.

Plot

The story is set in the early 18th century in the Liddesdale hills of the Scottish borders, familiar to Scott from his The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border ballads. The main character is based on the life of David Ritchie, who Scott met in the fall of 1797. In the tale, the dwarf is Sir Edward Mauley, regarded by the locals as being in league with the Devil, embroiled in a complex tale of love, revenge, betrayal, Jacobite schemes and a threatened forced marriage. Scott began the novel well, "but tired of the ground I had trode so often before... I quarrelled with my story, & bungled up a conclusion".

Critics and public found it poor in comparison with its popular companion "Old Mortality". One of the harshest reviews was in the "Quarterly Review", written anonymously by Scott himself.

External links

* [http://www.walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk/works/novels/dwarf.html The Black Dwarf (Tales of My Landlord, First Series)]
* [http://www.theblackdwarf.co.uk The Black Dwarf Historical site]
* [http://www.eswsc.com/ The Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club]