Reading Notes on The Antiquary

Reading Notes: Walter Scott, The Antiquary
November 22-25, 2008. Transcribed from Twitter.

Scott's "The Antiquary" begins as lampoon of reverance for the past: Oldbuck's false Roman ruins and Sir Arthur's exaggerated family heroism 10:21 AM Nov 22nd, 2008 from txt

King Alphonso of Castile quoted as life needful of: "old wood to burn, old books to read, old wine to drink, old friends to converse with" 10:26 AM Nov 22nd, 2008 from txt

Oldbuck on the parasitic professions: "the clergy live by our sins, the medical faculty by our diseases, the law gentry by our misfortunes." 9:10 AM Nov 23rd, 2008 from txt

At ruined Abbey: Oldbuck, Sir Arthur, Dousterswivel each see a different lost paradise in Monkish past: scholarly, orthodox, alchemical. 9:18 AM Nov 23rd, 2008 from txt

The mendicant/beggar and former poacher Edie Ochiltree wanders homeless by choice, witnessing that which others gossip or speculate over 2:56 PM Nov 23rd, 2008 from txt

Edie on the once formidable, now demented Elspeth: the remaining areas of her mind are all the more majestic for being surrounded by ruins 6:15 PM Nov 23rd, 2008 from txt

Oldbuck on Edie's role in community: "the oracle of the district ... genealogist, newsman, master of revels, doctor in a pinch, or divine" 7:28 AM Nov 25th, 2008 from web

More of Oldbuck on the wise vagrant Edie: "he is so far a true philosopher as to be a contemmer of all ordinary rules of hours and times." 7:31 AM Nov 25th, 2008 from web

Sir Arthur, ruined, sees himself "a fallen lamb" who will not lie on the heather for ten minutes before ravens and crows pick out his eyes" 9:12 AM Nov 25th, 2008 from web

Sir Arthur undervalues Oldbuck as too penurious to lend money and thus likely to give only "scraps of misanthropy and quaint ends of Latin" 9:36 AM Nov 25th, 2008 from web

To work with just 20 pp. left of The Antiquary" Maddening, even as it is clear how it will end: love and virtue rewarded; fortune assured 9:48 AM Nov 25th, 2008 from web

"The Antiquary" opposes the Monkish/Peaceful ideology of Oldbuck and Edie with the Martial/Aristocratic ideology of Sir Arthur and Hector. 5:39 PM Nov 25th, 2008 from web

Scott's de-centered hero, Lovell, unites both ideologies in that he is both studious and brave (and also, as revealed, a legitimate heir). 5:44 PM Nov 25th, 2008 from web