Ivanhoe (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Walter Scott (Author), Graham Tulloch (Contributor)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: October 3, 2000

"Ivanhoe" (1819) was the first of Scott's novels to adopt a purely English subject and was also his first attempt to combine history and romance, which later influenced Victorian medievalism. Set at the time of the Norman Conquest, "Ivanhoe" returns from the Crusades to claim his inheritance and the love of Rowena and becomes involved in the struggle between Richard Coeur de Lion and his Norman brother John. The gripping narrative is structured by a series of conflicts: Saxon versus Norman, Christian versus Jew, men versus women, played out against Scott's unflinching moral realism.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Walter Scott (1771-1832) was born and educated in Edinburgh. He trained as a lawyer and later entered the printing business. He published several volumes of poetry and turned down the offer of the laureateship before concentrating on fiction. He is credited with establishing the form of the historical novel and the short story. Graham Tulloch is a Reader in English at Flinders University, South Australia. He has published several books on Scott.

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (October 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140436588
• ISBN-13: 978-0140436587
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #65,936 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than Just Another Medieval Romance, May 7, 2001

By 

Jonathan B. Sims - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ivanhoe (Mass Market Paperback)

It was fashionable during my school days (the 60s and 70s) to dismiss "Ivanhoe" as just another medieval romance replete with damsels in distress and their knights in shining armor. In retrospect, I think that was just a lazy excuse (certainly my own) to avoid wading through this rather lengthy, densely written historical novel. Take my advice, fellow reader: wade through. It is well worth your time and energy.

The story, of course, is set in Merry Ole England, with Richard the Lion-Hearted on the throne and his malevolent kid brother (the future King John of Magna Carta fame) plotting to take it away from him. From the history we do know of this period, King Richard rarely spent any time in England, much preferring to immerse himself in the Crusades or any other errant knight adventure which struck his fancy. In this setting we find the Saxon-bred Ivanhoe, who against his father's wishes joined Richard in the Middle East to fight the "Infidel." Ultimately, Ivanhoe finds his way back into his father's good graces, and I suppose at one level Sir Walter Scott's Classic is about their estrangement and final rapprochement. But "Ivanhoe" is so much more.

Perhaps the over-arching theme to "Ivanhoe" is the nascent reconciliation between the proud, yet vanquished, Saxons and their equally proud, conquering French Norman overlords. The story takes place about a century after the Norman Conquest, and it took a great many more years than that before the antagonists successfully blended together to form the greatest nation on earth. Equally great was the emergence of the language we now call English, which is in large measure a synthesis of the Saxon and Norman tongues. But at the time of "Ivanhoe," two distinct languages exist (and Scott never allows us to forget this essential fact), and the friction between the two races is palpable throughout.

"Ivanhoe" can be divided into three major scenes: the Passage of Arms at Ashby, the siege of Torquilstone, and the final contest at Templestowe for the life of the Jewish heroine, Rebecca. The entire novel can be viewed as three successive peaks separated by long, undulating transitional valleys. I hesitate to voice any criticism of Scott's greatest work, but maybe a brave editor would have made him shorten his transitions a bit. But no matter. "Ivanhoe" at its worst is still better than most, and the rather lengthy transitional passages slow the pace down for the players to utter Shakespearean-like commentary on the world as it is.

"Ivanhoe" is an enduring classic for so many reasons. For one thing, Sir Walter Scott is simply incapable of rendering one-dimensional characters. Even the evil triumvirate of Front-de-Boeuf, Maurice de Bracy and Bois-Guilbert is rendered (at times) in a sympathetic light. By the time they are besieged at the Castle of Torquilstone, the reader is salivating over the prospect of them dangling over the battlements, with or without their armor on. And, yet, as the stranglehold tightens, Scott has them utter some of the funniest and wittiest lines in the entire novel.

No review of "Ivanhoe" can be made without some reference to the stunningly beautiful Jewess, Rebecca-- one of the most honorable and sympathetic characters in all of literature. Whether she is hounded by libidinous knights, or being held for trial as a witch, Rebecca maintains her calm dignity throughout. She is unswervingly devoted to her faith from beginning to end, which is no mean feat for a Jew in 12th Century England. And there is simply no pretense to the woman. She is who she is, and she wishes us all to accept her for nothing more, nothing less.

The same cannot be said for many of the other central characters in "Ivanhoe." No doubt they are all heroic, but they all act heroically behind a mask. King Richard, Robin Hood, and even Ivanhoe are all in disguise, and that's what strikes this reader as so odd! Now, I understand "disguise" as a narrative plot device, but methinks there's way too many disguises floating around in "Ivanhoe." So, what does Sir Walter Scott really have in mind?

Well, here's one idea that harks back to a theme I touched upon earlier on. The story of "Ivanhoe" is the struggle between Saxon (rights) and Norman (prerogatives). Their eventual assimilation occurs centuries after the events in Scott's Classic, but the seeds of their reconciliation are thoroughly sown in "Ivanhoe." By having his central characters assume disguises, Sir Walter Scott has effaced (at least symbolically) all Saxon and Norman identities to aid in their eventual amalgamation as one great race.

All of which leads, perhaps, to a grander theme that Scott had in mind when he penned "Ivanhoe." His very first scene begins with the court jester, Wamba, seated on an ancient Druidical monumnet, and lecturing his companion, Gurth, on the proper use of Saxon and Norman words. The setting reminds us of just how old the Island Kingdom really is, and that the history of England is, indeed, the history of invasion. The Norman Conquest of 1066 displaced Harold and his Saxon vassals, but don't feel too sorry for the Saxons. They had their run, defeating various indigenous tribes of the 7th-9th Centuries, not to mention fighting off one Viking raid after another. And, of course, the Romans crossed the Channel as far back as Julius Caesar whose initial inroads were eventually consolidated by the Emperor, Claudius, who defeated the Celtic Queen Boadicia.

Now, my history may miss its mark a bit, but I think you get the point. What, precisely, is an Englishman? Norman, Saxon, Viking, Roman, Celtic, Pict, Druid? I think the Scottish-born Walter Scott, whose native language was not English, thought very deeply about that question, and "Ivanhoe" is his eloquent, meditative response.

76 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The classic novel-format medieval romance, September 9, 2009

By 

T. Simons (Columbia, SC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ivanhoe (Kindle Edition)

This the first,the classic, novelized medieval Romance. Written the same year as Queen Victoria's birth, it gave us much of our modern conception of medieval tournaments, King John, Robin Hood, Richard Coeur de Lion, etc. (I realize I stretch things a bit by calling Sir Walter Scott "modern," but I speak only by comparison with medieval ballads, King Arthur, Robin Hood legends, etc.)

If you've ever thought "ok, that was cool" as Robin Hood split an arrow with another arrow at the Great Archery Tournament, or wondered where the idea of Robin Hood as the defender of Saxon yeomanry against the Villainous John of Anjou, Regent for the absent Richard, got its start -- it started here.

The book isn't all about Robin Hood, though; mostly, it's about Knights and Tournaments and foul Norman oppressors. There's a tournament, a trial by combat, a castle seige, a little bit of anti-racist message (in the person of a beautiful and noble-in-spirit Jewish beauty unjustly maligned and accused of witchcraft), multiple anonymous knights (including a Black Knight!), and in short all the important highlights of medieval ballads, conveniently arranged in the format of a historical novel.

Scott's historiography is a little off (for example, at one point a character pretends to be a Franciscan monk, when the order wasn't founded until about twenty years after the novel's action takes place), but Scott does make a real effort to avoid most anachronisms (moreso than many writers of "historical novels"). This kindle edition also includes Scott's introduction and notes, which show that he put real effort into basing many of the events in his book on excerpts from period ballads and tales (rearranging them, of course, as per his authorial prerogative).

This one's a classic for a reason. Entertaining, archetypal, and with massive influence on everything since, from Howard Pyle to Errol Flynn to video games like "Defender of the Crown." The prose style might be a little offputting to more sensitive modern readers -- it was, after all, written the same year that Queen Victoria was born, and is a little dry in some places and a little overblown in others -- but if you can get past that, you'll find a classic. Enjoy.

[If the reader wishes more in this vein, I'd point him, as mentioned above, to Howard Pyle's _The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood_, also available for free online; make sure to find the version with Pyle's original illustrations].

66 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Edinburgh Scot at the Court of King Richard, June 21, 2003

By 

Peter Reeve (Thousand Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ivanhoe (Mass Market Paperback)

"Ivanhoe" is Romanticism writ large. The author's style is elegant and lucid - often very funny - and the interpolated poetry is fine, too. Dialogue, action and description are all well handled. Scott established the historical novel as a popular literary form, paving the way for Dumas, Fennimore Cooper and countless others since. Fennimore Cooper in particular, was directly inspired to take up writing by Scott's enormous success.

Although he has been criticized for historical errors, Scott includes a wealth of authentic detail and he certainly stays far closer to the truth than Hollywood ever does. (Here's a thought; why have we become ever more demanding of historical accuracy in our authors, yet able to accept the most glaring errors on the cinema screen?) The sensibilities reflected in this book are mostly those of a conservative gentleman and scholar of the nineteenth, rather than twelfth, century. In particular, the depiction of the Jewish characters and the master-servant relationships tells us as much about nineteenth century Britain as about medieval England. Nonetheless, it is in many ways a convincing portrait of life in the Middle Ages. Having lived in what is now the industrial wastescape of South Yorkshire (you saw it in "The Full Monty"), where much of the action of "Ivanhoe" takes place, I enjoyed Scott's vision of a still green and pleasant Merry England where deer roamed vast forests and knights went in search of adventure.

The varied cast of characters is one of the novel's great strengths. The reader cares what happens to them because they are so real. Oddly, the eponymous hero plays a minor, albeit crucial, role in the tale and the putative heroine Rowena is overshadowed by the more interesting Rebecca.

Scott is best known however, for his storytelling skills. "Ivanhoe" has a terrific plot. At times, credibility is stretched a little too far for my taste. For example, characters rather too easily adopt disguises that fool even those who know them intimately. But you keep wanting to know what happens next, which is the essence of good plotting, and the story is blessedly free of the incredible coincidences that plagued eighteenth and nineteenth century English novels.

I think "A Tale of Two Cities" (despite what I call `the curse of the coincidence'), "Vanity Fair" and especially, "The Cloister and the Hearth" are all better examples of historical novels by nineteenth century British writers, but "Ivanhoe" is still well worth reading. Most editions include Scott's introduction, spoof 'dedication' and copious notes. Modern readers may be tempted to skip these. They are well written but not essential to enjoying the novel itself. BEWARE; the introduction and the notes include spoilers. My advice is to read the novel first and then, if you enjoyed it, read those other sections. They do give some insight into the book's genesis.