Scott really is a masterful novelist. If, like me, your knowledge of this tale originates in Donizetti's opera, you will be fascinated by the job of his librettists! They managed to plumb the psychological depths of the story even as they did away with 90% of the characters and plot. The recognizable plot line of the opera starts up about Chapter 20, or nearly 170 pages into the novel. And the last chapters move along with the same intensity as the opera. But the excitement of the novel lies in the ways Scott deploys the standard 19th century novelist's tools to full advantage. He has a fine way of ordering the narrative so that we might be surprised just as a character is surprised, and learn very naturally in the following chapter all the back story that we expect to explain a happening (in particular the appearance of guests at Wolf's Crag and the subsequent story of the change in political winds that precipitated it). True, Scott also deploys traditions of the 19th century novel that seem strained now (a well placed bullet in a charging bull is one thing, but a second well placed thunderstorm that makes turning away unwanted guests impossible is a bit much). Scott also makes full use of Scots dialect and auguries for turning the tale exotic and mysterious. And his own liberal use of foreshadowing makes sure we won't be too surprised by the ending. And somehow, Scott manages that forte of the English novel -- he spends two thirds of the book winding string so that when he pulls the last one and the whole knot comes together it is as inevitable as the sun rising (or the fog rolling in over the Scottish coast line!)

Tremendously enjoyable if you like ruined castles, swooning ladies, impecunious aristocrats, Jacobite conspirators, and so much thickly laid on Gothicism it can give you a psycho-physical reaction (a bit like the one I get after bingeing on a barrel of oysters and a butt of malmsey). Yes, it is all a bit overdone – Caleb the comical servant grates after a while, and does the poor sap of a heroine have to be quite so pale and passive? The ending is fabulous but there is a lot of slowly paced narrative before we get there. It’s best to surrender to all of this and luxuriate in it – if you like this kind of thing – which I do. Though I can see why many don’t. Scott would have hated almost everything about contemporary Scotland, and in order to love his novels these days, it is almost certainly necessary to be entirely out of sympathy with pretty much everything in the modern world. Which I am.

I'm ashamed to say that this is the first novel by Scott that I've read, but I'm pleased that I liked it as much as I did. What's impressive about _The Bride of Lammermoor_ is its complexity. The opening discussion of the ill-fated painter, Dick Tinto, seemed like a bizarre way to begin a story (especially when Tinto himself has so many problems with narrative), but I liked many of the questions the opening raised about the cultural status of romance genre, its reliance on dialogue, and its relationship with visual arts. The subsequent story of Edgar Ravenswood and Lucy Ashton was chock full of over-the-top dramatic potential, with curses, omens, witches, burning towers, frightening paintings, and evil mothers frequently jolting the story from melodrama into the Gothic. As the notes in this edition indicate, Scott was influenced by Walpole's _Castle of Otranto_ at a number of points in the writing of this work.

The frequent juxtapositions of the parts of the narrative are what make this compelling. The reader is speedily transferred from discussions of psychological insight to spectral visitations to self-conscious considerations of genre to comic interactions with peasants. All of these different components feed off of one another. That said, I do think that the comic peasant scenes were some of the hardest to get through, perhaps because of the dialect. At points, I wanted to return to the romance narrative as my interest in the rustic figures waned. This is, of course a problem, and something I'll have to remedy on subsequent readings.

I read _The Bride of Lammermoor_ mostly because Scott was very influential for both H. Rider Haggard and Andrew Lang, and I wanted to understand some of this influence. It's clear that many of the late-Victorian writers of romance admired and imitated him (Stevenson certainly comes to mind). In the case of Haggard, though, I don't think he was ever able to generate the psychological depth that Scott brings to his characters. Still, this was a very useful and interesting read. Thank goodness for a sabbatical!

This was a very strange book. The last three or so chapters were nuts! The mother is so annoying. Poor Lucy.

Today Ivanhoe is Walter Scott's most read novel. Ivanhoe is nice enough. Moreover at time when England was considering emancipating its Jews, it draws attention in a timely fashion to how unjust the actual expulsion of Jews from England in 1290 A.D. had been.

Nonetheless, The Bride of Lammermoor is by far the most important book that Scott ever wrote. It took Europe by storm and is largely responsible for the launch of Romanticism in France as the French were blissfully unaware of the German romantic movement.

The Bride of Lammermoor had its greatest impact on Italian opera. In fact, I much prefer Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti to Scott's novel. For those of you with funds I would suggest that you go to Covent Garden for a performance instead of reading this book. Lucie's death is much more entertaining when presented by a loud soprano and a discreet orchestra than it is on the printed page.

I loved this novel by Sir Walter Scott very much, and I am eager to read more of his novels! I always meant to read it as Donizetti's opera adaptation of this novel (Especially with Dame Joan Sutherland as Lucia) is one of my favorite operas! The novel is about loss, revenge, love, honor and dignity, marriage, and death, with Gothic elements. It also has something from Shakespeare's plays, particularly, Macbeth, where Lady Ashton is somehow reminiscent of Lady Macbeth. That was my first Scott novel but it will not be the last for sure.

Beautiful tragic romance that made me cry at the end. Scott does wander off into seemingly purposeless rambles, with extra characters who have no usefulness in the story, but I forgive him b/c the rest of the writing is so very good.



I love the characters and the story line! The writing is exactly designed to sweep one away to another world, another time.



They say that he wrote most of the book whilst he was deliriously ill by dictating to his editor/publisher Ballantyne. Maybe that accounts for some of the gaps in places where I wish he would have written more in a particular scene, and for the long rambles in other places. ha ha!

The Bride of Lammermoor is a dark novel about revenge, love, and what happens to those who seek their own happiness in the face of family opposition and ill-fate. The book is filled with dark omens and the occasional ghost makes an appearance to foreshadow the evil that is to come. Scott is a Scottish author and the book portrays a Scotland that is dark, superstitious, and going through a time of political upheaval. This book may be "English" literature, but it thankfully avoids the ubiquitous happy ending of so much literature out of England at that time.

One of the most interesting and also most difficult aspects of the book is the cast of traditional Scottish characters who speak in dialect. The more you read, the easier it is to understand, but even by the end of the book I still had to slow down and sound out some of their words to understand what they were saying. The rest you have to get just by context. As with so many of the classics, reading the footnotes can be key to understanding all of the action of the novel.

The footnotes will also help you understand the politics of the time. Ravenswood's fortunes are lost and remade based on changes in the political scene. The book is written as a retrospective, and there are numerous references to the more "civil" times that the narrator is currently living in. In the story, the law is bent to the will of those in power, and applied differently to different men. The narrator rues this fact, and is thankful for the "modern" system that applies the law equally. There is a sense that the reason this modern system has come into place is due to the influence of English law. The book is set in the context of the English and Scottish union as a single state, and the affect this has on the politics of Scotland plays a key role. We see the lairds of Scotland struggling to adjust to a new power system and to keep as much power to themselves as they can. The ability of a Scotsman to appeal to a higher court than ever before also gives Ravenswood the ability to avenge his father through the law rather than violence, although it is not his first instinct to do so.

The novel takes a common approach to creating a sense of reality - there is an internal narrator who tells us the story. The novel begins with an introduction to this narrator and an explanation of why he is bothering to tell this particular story at this time (to honor his friend who has recently died). He then moves into telling us the story, which becomes more believable through this mechanism. He is also able to comment on the action throughout, without creating a sense of distance by drawing attention to the author of the novel.

Finally, as touched on above, foreshadowing is an important element throughout the story. Before the narrator even begins to tell his tale, we are presented with a drawing of a key scene. From that moment on we have a sense of dread about what will happen to the protagonists who were portrayed in such a dreadful way. Prophecies, legends, and three hags (a clear reference to the three witches of Macbeth) all continue to make it more and more clear to the reader that Ravenswood and Lucy are destined to be unhappy. Foreshadowing is a dangerous trick - at a certain point the reader may wonder why he should even bother to continue reading if he already knows what is going to happen. Scott leaves enough mystery to keep us wanting to discover what happens, and he tells the story in such an engaging way that you would want to keep reading even if there was no mystery at all.

“The Bride of Lammermoor“is surprisingly funny. It’s about two Scottish families who, through the centuries, fight over the same fortune and land holdings. One family wrests it away from the other branch and a century or so later another grabs it back and so on. As the book opens Lord Ravenswood has just lost his father and his fortune. It’s reverted back to the Ashton’s. In his anguish Ravenswood decides to go back to the house he grew up in and confront Ashton but along the way some wayward cows get in the way and he not only doesn’t kill Ashton but he saves his life and that of his beautiful daughter. Of course love blossoms a la Romeo and Juliet until Ashton’s stalwart lady, a member of the famed Douglas clan, stomps it out.

I’ve tried to read at least two other Walter Scott books and failed so I was thrilled with how much fun this one was. The interactions between the Lord and his long suffering, loyal servant Caleb Balderstone were priceless. The third section of the book is very sad however. Donizetti’s opera of the same name is based on that section.

My first Walter Scott - read on the 200th anniversary of its first publication in 1819.

It would be very easy to pick this book to pieces - a too slow start and an overly rapid, abrupt ending; minor characters that hog the stage; melodrama galore - but I actually thoroughly enjoyed this magnificent page-turning potboiler. Scott has narrative skills to burn and excels in vivid settings and dramatic scenes.

Seriously gothic fans, listen up: This is your ultimate indulgence. This is ridiculously over the top. The characters actually swish their cloaks and make dark, portentous pronouncements. Wolves really howl at the moon, the dudes really live in broken down castles. Ladies go mad! Men lose their inheritance and swear revenge! Old family feuds! Star crossed lovers! (Though let's note about that that they make no sense and the hero seems to be more 'Eh, well, she's a chick, she loves me. I'm pretty cool, I should have known that would happen. I am therefore obligated to love her in return! Point of honor!') This book is ridiculous. I laughed at it for half of it and loved it for the rest. It also spawned an opera called Lucia di Lammermoor, for those inclined in that direction. The mad scene there is beautiful.

This was a surprisingly good time!

Dopo aver letto Ivanhoe, che mi aveva intrigato ma lasciata un po’ insoddisfatta, ho deciso di leggere un altro libro dell’autore scozzese, da tutti ritenuto il padre del romanzo storico. Leggendo qua e là le trame dei suoi libri – naturalmente tra quelli disponibili nella nostra lingua – ho optato per la lettura di La sposa di Lammermoor, la cui trama mi aveva molto incuriosita.
Pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1819, il libro si basa – come dichiara l’autore stesso – su fatti realmente accaduti in Scozia attorno alla metà del Seicento. Il romanzo narra la triste storia d’amore, su cui incombe una leggenda funesta, tra Lucia Ashton e Edgar Ravenswood, appartenenti a due famiglie in lotta tra loro.
Edgar è l’ultimo discendente della nobile e antica famiglia Ravenswood, caduta in disgrazia e defraudata d’ogni avere a causa dei cavilli legali e delle macchinazioni ordite da sir William Ashton, padre della giovane Lucia, con l’unico intento di appropriarsi i possedimenti della famiglia Ravenswood. Edgar durante il funerale del padre giura di vendicarsi della famiglia nemica ma quando conosce la giovane Lucia Ashton rimane colpito dalla cosiddetta freccia di cupido. Assalito da dubbi e incertezze, alla fine Edgar decide di rinunciare al suo proposito di vendetta per amore della giovane ragazza. Quando la madre di Lucia, Lady Ashton scopre la storia d’amore tra i due, temendo che Edgar voglia spogliarli dei loro averi e spinta dal suo immenso orgoglio, impiega ogni mezzo per distruggere il loro amore e combina per Lucia un matrimonio d’interesse; sul futuro dei due innamorati iniziano così a addensarsi minacciose nubi nere…

Era da un po’ che volevo leggere questo romanzo ma avevo paura che fosse pesante e lento; temevo che con questo caldo fosse un po’ difficile da leggere, invece, non è stato così; anzi tutto il contrario e in più mi ha fatto venire voglia di leggere qualche altro libro dell’autore scozzese.
La sposa di Lammermoor è un romanzo in cui vari elementi, tipici in un certo senso dell’ambiente e della cultura scozzese, si fondono tra loro; magia, leggende, castelli decadenti, apparizioni soprannaturali, mistero, vecchie megere, sono i vari fattori disseminati lungo il corso del romanzo che accompagnano il lettore durante l’evoluzione della storia d’amore tra i due giovani.
Walter Scott tratta abbastanza superficialmente e sorvola sulla nascita dei sentimenti di entrambi – anzi critica il loro comportamento – e sulla pazzia di Lucia (scelta che mi è dispiaciuta molto perché sono due caratteristiche che avrei voluto fossero più approfondite); l’amore e la pazzia, invece, sono al centro dell’opera di Gaetano Donizetti del 1835, basata sul libretto che Salvatore Cammarano ha tratto dal romanzo.
Più che raccontare la storia d’amore tra Edgar e Lucia, che rimane principalmente in secondo piano, l’autore scozzese pone al centro della vicenda la lotta tra l’antica famiglia Ravenswood e la famiglia Ashton. Scott decide di dare spazio alle vicende storico politiche della Scozia però, senza spiegarle e approfondirle ritenendo che il lettore ne sia già a conoscenza. La scelta di narrare un amore contrastato dalla faida di due famiglie, ha come scopo quello di rappresentare il contrasto in atto in quel periodo tra la classe borghese da una parte e quella nobile dall’altra (emblema della situazione politico-sociale scozzese dell’epoca), ed esporre la nascita e l’affermazione della nuova classe politica scozzese, da molti ritenuta infida, che guarda al proprio interesse e schiaccia l’antica nobiltà feudale.
Vicenda che in molteplici punti mi ha ricordato la trama di Romeo e Giulietta e del Macbeth di Shakespeare, La sposa di Lammermoor è un romanzo poco descrittivo soprattutto nelle esposizioni paesaggistiche, però in certi punti ha una componente comica molto piacevole che alleggerisce la narrazione.
Come avevo già riscontrato nel suo romanzo più famoso, Ivanhoe, il personaggio che dal titolo al libro è quello che rimane più in ombra. Lucia, infatti, appare pochissimo; è descritta come una giovane fanciulla dai connotati angelici (capelli biondi e occhi azzurri), immagine vivente della bellezza e dell’innocenza, non dialoga quasi mai e mostra poco spessore. Eroina tragica, che accetta di obbedire al volere dei genitori nonostante sia innamorata dell’acerrimo nemico della sua famiglia.
Tutto l’opposto è il co-protagonista anzi il vero e proprio protagonista di questa tragedia sheakespeariana in salsa scozzese, Edgar Ravenswood. Diverso dal solito eroe romantico, è un giovane orgoglioso, coraggioso e fiero, maledetto dalle sventure e dalla malasorte, pronto a tutto per difendere l’onore della famiglia; in certi momenti ho percepito una somiglianza con Heatcliff di Emily Brontë, forse proprio per la sua sete di vendetta. All’inizio un po’ scontroso, violento e vendicativo, man mano che si approfondisce la sua conoscenza si rivela un giovane uomo amabile, buono, giusto e risoluto, disposto a rinunciare ai suoi propositi di vendetta per amore. Un personaggio che mi è piaciuto molto (me lo sono immaginato con le sembianze di Richard Armitage nei panni di Guy di Gisborne in Robin Hood *_^), pieno di fascino, che fa la miglior entrata di sempre – almeno fra quelle che ho letto finora – nella scena del fidanzamento.
Dopo aver perduto tutto Edgar, vive in una torre in rovina (tratteggiata magnificamente da Scott) a picco sul mare del mare del Nord – descritto per la maggior parte in burrasca – con gli unici due servi rimastigli fedeli; uno di questi è Caleb Balderstone, servitore eccentrico della famiglia Ravenswood da generazioni; personaggio molto divertente, che escogita infinite scuse ed espedienti (bugie, imbrogli, finti incendi e liti, bottiglie rotte e porte sbattute in faccia agli ospiti) per salvare l’onore e la reputazione della famiglia del padrone. Caleb è una figura delineata con perfezione che alleggerisce gli avvenimenti e dona al romanzo un tocco d’ironia che non guasta; inoltre le discussioni tra lui e il suo signore sono senza prezzo.
Tutt’altro personaggio si rivela Lady Ashton, madre di Lucia, la cattiva del romanzo che rimane impressa nella mente del lettore. Donna altera, perfida, manipolatrice e insensibile, comanda a bacchetta il marito, Sir William, che la teme tantissimo; non esita a rivolgersi ad una fattucchiera per distruggere il legame tra i due giovani, spingendo senza esitazione sua figlia ad annullare il fidanzamento con Edgar e obbligandola ad un matrimonio combinato; non gliene frega nulla se tutto ciò induce la figlia nell’abisso della pazzia, l’unica cosa importante per lei è salvare i propri benefici.
In generale tutti i personaggi del romanzo, sia i principali sia i secondari, sono abbozzati e corrispondo a vari cliché molto comuni (la madre cattiva, la veggente cieca, l’eroe maschile coraggioso e pronto a tutto, la fanciulla accondiscendente), caratterizzati più a livello caratteriale che a livello fisico e non approfonditi psicologicamente.

La sposa di Lammermoor è una vicenda d’amore e di morte, in cui costumi, superstizioni e leggende scozzesi, avventura, pazzia, vecchie maliarde, famiglie cadute in disgrazia, alleanze e intrighi politici, sono miscelati sapientemente e con maestria tanto da rendere la storia intrigante e piacevole.
Un romanzo dalle mille sfaccettature, delineato elegantemente, con stile e mestiere, dai toni placidi, dalla scrittura scorrevole e lineare, con momenti divertenti e allegri (come quello della corsa delle carrozze), e momenti tragici e tristi.

Non credo avrebbero tratto un’opera lirica, ormai divenuta famosissima, se The bride of Lammermoor non fosse stata una storia tragica e triste.

3*½

È un luogo ritenuto fatale alla mia famiglia,” rispose Ravenswood, “ed io ho qualche ragione per ritenerlo tale, perché è qui che per la prima volta ho veduto miss Ashton ed è qui che debbo accomiatarmi da lei per sempre.