A Colloquium on Redgauntlet

On Saturday 10th August 2024 we had a Colloquium on Redgauntlet with Prof. Penny Fielding, Ian Chisholm, Prof. David Purdie, Lord Stewart and James Wolffe. They were introduced by our Hon. Secretary, David McClay. 

Prof. Penny Fielding - Redgauntlet and Espionage

Past President of the Club (2023/24). She is the Grierson Chair of English Literature at the University of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Penny is co-director of Edinburgh University's research group Scottish Writing in the Nineteenth Century and is writing a book on Fiction and Espionage in Scotland from Scott to Spark.

Synopsis: Redgauntlet imagines an insurrection in the form of a Jacobite plot, but we can also read this plot as an echo of the radical unrest in the years leading up to its publication in 1824. I will discuss Redgauntlet as a spy novel, driven by clandestine activity and secret communications.

Prof. David Purdie - Condensing and Charles' Return

Former Club Chairman (2008-11) and Council Member (2004-16) and has spoken regularly to the club 2003, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2018 and 2020. He is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Advance Study in the Humanities (IASH). A former medic, his current interests include literary components of the Scottish Enlightenment; specifically the works of Sir Walter Scott, Robert Burns and David Hume. Having created redacted editions of Ivanhoe (2012) and The Heart of Midlothian (2014) his current project is a redacted Redgauntlet.

Ian Chisholm - Scott's Jacobite Mystery

Club Council member since 2021. He lectured to the Club in 2022 on ‘Scott as an historian’. Formerly worked on policy at the Home Office. Former lecturer on Edinburgh History at Workers Educational Association, former President of the Edinburgh Burns Club and Edinburgh Districts Burns Clubs. He is also a tour guide for Mercat Tours.

 [transcript]

James Wolffe - Lawyers and Outlaws

Advocate, formerly Lord Advocate (2016-21), Dean (2014-16) and Vice Dean (2013-14) of the Faculty of Advocates. He is Chair of Trustees of the Abbotsford Trust.

Synopsis: Reflections on the theme of law and disorder as reflected in the portrayals of lawyers and outlaws in Redgauntlet.

Lord Stewart - Poor Peter Peebles: Fact and Fiction

The Honourable Lord Stewart, current President of the Club. He was a Senator of the College of Justice (2010-2017) and practised as an advocate (1975-2010), serving as Keeper of the Advocates Library (1995-2002) which included the role of inaugural Chair of the Faculty of Advocates Abbotsford Library Project. His recent article ‘Sir Walter Scott: Law and Imagination’ includes new information and insight about Scott’s novels including Redgauntlet.

Synopsis: Poor Peter Peebles is one of the memorable minor characters in Redgauntlet. This talk explores the part he plays in the story and reveals hitherto unknown facts about the real-life character.