130 Years
Reading Waverley
On Thursday 15th May 2015 we had a talk by Jenni Calder on Reading Waverley. She was introduced by our Chairman, Alasdair Hutton.
Jenni Calder was born in Chicago, educated in the United States and England, and has lived in or near Edinburgh since 1971. After several years of part-time teaching and freelance writing, including three years in Kenya, she worked at the National Museums of Scotland from 1978 to 2001 successively as education officer, Head of Publications, script editor for the Museum of Scotland, and latterly as Head of Museum of Scotland International. In the latter capacity her main interest was in emigration and the Scottish diaspora. She has written and lectured widely on Scottish, English and American literary and historical subjects, and writes fiction and poetry as Jenni Daiches. She has two daughters, a son and a dog.
Synopsis: In Waverley Scott demonstrated that Scotland had a distinctive history and a vibrant identity. Scott’s concern that accelerating industrialisation and changing ways of life would destroy evidence of the past drove him to ensure history was not lost. His passion for collecting stories and artefacts paralleled his commitment to preserving the past through his writing.
Waverley is a compelling account of the Jacobite Rising and its background. With a mission to illuminate, Scott explains and interprets which paradoxically can make it harder for 21st century readers. But Scott’s fiction provides a gateway to Scotland’s past. There is much to be gained through reading about
Waverley’s young naïve hero ignorant of Scotland caught up in an episode that had profound consequences and still resonates. The aim of the recently published abridged version is to attract a new readership and renew enthusiasm for a writer too often neglected.
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