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RAMBAUD: FIRST BLOOD IN AUSTRIA, MOSCOW; A CITY DISFIGURED

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From: The Boston Globe
Date: 20041219
Author:Anna Mundow

Sir Walter Scott has a lot to answer for. In 1817, he wrote "Rob Roy," the first kilts 'n' cudgels historical novel to inspire countless phony Scots, from Queen Victoria waddling around Balmoral in her tartans to Mel Gibson running amok in "Braveheart."

Scott was no Robert Louis Stevenson, no R. D. Blackmore. He did, however, establish the historical novel as a literary form; without him there might have been no "Kidnapped" or "Lorna Doone." Scott also inspired 19th-century French writers such as Dumas, Hugo, and Balzac, who announced in 1831 that he would write a novel about Napoleon's 1809 ...

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