A very pleasant tale of a young man, Mordaunt Mertoun and his rather eccentric father, who take up residence in Yarlshof, a ruined habitation on a deserted piece of the coastline in Zetland - nowadays known as Shetland, a group of islands off the northeast coast of Scotland. The title character - whom it is not revealed is a follower of this buccaneering profession until well into the novel - (the first use of the word 'pirate' comes on page 443) is rescued by Mordaunt from a ship which is dashed to pieces on the rocks. He then makes his way to Burgh Westra, the home of Magnus Troil and his lovely daughters Minna and Brenda. They are polar opposites: the former dark, melancholy and intellectual; the latter, light, cheery and somewhat frivolous. They are close friends with Mordaunt, who is also always welcomed by their father. This changes during the stay of Clement Cleveland (the pirate) with the Troils, and is slowly becomes apparent to Mordaunt that their positive feelings for him have significantly altered. A major character throughout the novel is Norna of the Fitful Head, generally regarded by the island's inhabitants as a witch who can use spells to alter the weather.

Minor characters - and real delights they are - are Triptolemus Yellowley and his haridan of a sister Barbara. He was sent to study religion, but only paid attention during lessons dealing with agricultural practices, which he tries, with absolutely no success, to reform on the island. Pacolet, a repulsive dwarf, lives with Norna in her habitation among ruins by the promontory of her title. There is also a fiddler, rhymester and interminable story-teller Claud Halcro, who once met John Dryden ('Wonderful John') and must be actively discouraged from recounting the tale ad nauseum. An itinerant pedlar, Bryce Snailsfoot, was more concerned with looting Cleveland's chest while Mordaunt was trying to save the pirate's life and is in fact the one responsible for spreading scurrilous rumours about Mordaunt among the Troil family.

Eventually, Cleveland and Mordaunt come to blows over the young ladies and the manner in which this is sorted out is complicated by the arrival of Cleveland's sister ship in Kirkwall harbour and the intercession of his crew, which upset his plans to leave pirating behind in order to pursue his love for Minna. At least two relatively shocking revelations of unknown parentage (the first, I'd figured out long before; the second, I never would have seen coming), one happy marriage, a return to the true religion and a glorious death in battle tie up a novel in which Scott had all his juggling balls nicely balanced through his adroit handling of plot, character, humour, love and geography.

One of the very best of the Waverley novels. Highly recommended.

No me gustó la narración del libro aparte que la trama no me gustó de igual manera
Había palabras que no entendía pero no había el interés de que yo las buscará no me agradó
Son muy pocas las páginas.y me tarde más de 1 mes en leerlo
Pésimo...!!!

The most inviting aspect of The Pirate is the sense of place that Scott instills within his story. Scott pulled me back to the early 18th century and placed me in the Shetland and Orkney Islands. At the time, these islands were located on the edge of civilization in the far northern reaches of Great Britain. Their inhabitants were Scottish by decree but Norse by heritage and custom. The islanders worshiped God but also believed in medieval myths and superstitions. All of this served to create the feeling of a mystical land that was far removed from the mainstream world.

The character named Norna was written perfectly as a sort of dark reflection of these remote islands. She personified the mysticism and beliefs of the island’s inhabitants. Scott made Norna into mystical being while keeping her tragically human. Her story, her journey, on its own is worth the read. Along these same lines, the entire novel is a great example of knowing how to build a world in words while also knowing the point at which that world would fall apart in the mind of the reader. Scott admirably walked this line.

My interest with The Pirate started when I came across a comment made by James Fenimore Cooper, author of The Last of the Mohicans, that was critical of the book. Cooper, having served as a merchant seaman and as a midshipman in the US Navy, considered the novel to include a less-than-true depiction of life at sea. His displeasure was such that it prompted him to write n  The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea,n which was published two years after The Pirate in 1824.

After reading both books, it seems a bit picky for Cooper to have made such a comment and for it to have prompted his writing an entire novel in rebuttal. Both books actually spend very little time at sea. However, if there was a break in Scott’s world, it was indeed during the few chapters that featured ships, pirates, and the sea. For Scott, it was all about the land. In contrast, these same few corresponding chapters in Cooper’s book were far better than the balance of his story. Thus, I think that Scott wrote the better book.

The difficulties with The Pirate reside in its age. Of course, early 19th century English is something of its own dialect that can be difficult to follow. Along these same lines, the 19th century dialect of the Shetland Islanders, as phonetically written by Scott, is at times all but impossible to understand. Additionally, Scott may go a bit too far in setting the mood of the islands by freely including verses of poetry and songs in his prose. While a few of these inclusions were essential, most tended to be distracting.

Overall, The Pirate is a touching love story that evolves from the life and struggles of its participants. Human complexity and dichotomy are realistically depicted. The characters are not sure-footed creatures that make their next move as a matter of course. But most of all, The Pirate captures the feeling of a remote land, isolated in time, and brought to life through Scott’s words. Anyone considering future travels through these islands would be well served by reading this book, preferably by a fireplace on a rainy day looking out upon fields of moss-covered peat that drop off over cliffs that rise up from the sea.

surprising twists

Versión cómic.

Personally, Scott is the salt of the earth

Comienza bien, con un estilo diferente a lo q estoy acostumbrado pero comienza bien. Pero al final acaba alargándose mucho, haciéndose difícil de leer y con un desenlace épico a una historia que no pedía tal desenlace épico si no algo más cotidiano.

Cuando comienzo a leer un libro sobre piratas lo primero que viene a mi mente es el mar Caribe o el mar del sur de China, al menos las costas de Somalia. Pues bien, este libro se desarrolla en las Islas Shetland. Y de nuevo, lo primero que viene a mi mente es que el caballo más pequeño del mundo es el pony de las Islas Shetland. Creo que a eso se reducían mis memorias sobre aquella tierra, ubicada a las puertas del circulo ártico, pero con un invierno más suave que el que tenemos en Chihuahua: bastante agradable para la latitud en que se encuentra.
Además del ambiente tan disímbolo a los otros libros de piratería, este se distingue además de ello en el retrato poco simpático de los piratas. Finalmente la piratería, como toda actividad ilícita, no es motivo de orgullo, y los piratas no serían personas en quienes se depositaría demasiada confianza. Al menos en los que se apegan más a la realidad, y no en caballeros tan íntegros como n  El Corsario Negron o n  Sandokann.
Así lo saben y lo reconocen algunos de los piratas en esta obra. Pese a ello y a sus denodados esfuerzos, les resulta imposible desasirse de su pasado: aun cuando la justicia terrena los exonera de sus delitos, la culpa y el estigma los persigue en tanto se sabe de sus correrías en la Nueva España de mediados del siglo XVII. Solo el anonimato los abriga del descrédito o la muerte en el campo del honor los rehabilita.
La novela en general es un cuadro de costumbres de las Islas Shetland de la época, conocidas por Walter Scott de primera mano en un viaje a las islas británicas más septentrionales. Vecinas de Escocia, pero con profundas raíces en la cultura nórdica, que las unen más a Noruega que a la pérfida Albión.
Los personajes están vivos, es posible reconocerles carácter, y las reacciones a las circunstancias que se les presentan pueden anticiparse en ocasiones. Hay una galería de tipos y estereotipos, como en n  Ivanhoen, que incluyen elementos humorísticos, héroes verosímiles, patriarcas orgullosos de su linaje e identidades misteriosas. Todos los elementos que mejor recuerdo de la novela de El cruzado, y por los que le ganaron un lugar entre mis favoritos.
Una gran y agradable diferencia es Norna de Fitful-Head, dama de orígenes arcanos, con una inteligencia, sensibilidad y capacidad observadora que la hace aparecer como sobrenatural a los ojos de casi todos. Los capítulos en los que la acción se centra en ella son los mejores del libro. A esto agrego las descripciones del paisaje y la naturaleza y el retrato de las costumbres de los shetlandeses y con esto tenemos un libro que disfruté en su mayor parte.

Very good work of Scott's that featured the Shetland islands.

The book had an extremely slow start which I did not mind because I enjoy looking up the locations and learning a bit of geography while I am at it. This book would be a fun companion to The Brendan Voyage because Severin and his crew did not stop at the Shetland Islands so The Pirate fills in the gap. I also enjoy learning about the customs and culture, heavily influenced by the Norwegians. While Scott leaves readers in suspense over who the pirate is for far too long, the interesting cast of characters keeps the book percolating--the sisters and their father, the reclusive father and his son, the witch and her dwarf, and the handsome stranger. Unfortunately, the book went so slowly that I lost track of it during the pandemic. Fortunately, with another Scott novel on the horizon, I picked it up and realized I stopped reading at the moment when the plot began to unravel in a wonderful way. What I like most is that the ending is not as tidy as much as some would like. However, the steadfast characters have a satisfactory ending and those in need of redemption who have true remorse find it.

Free download available at Project Gutenberg.

My favorite Sir Walter Scott so far. I enjoyed the bits of Scots and Gaelic and the story-line progressed at a steady rate. I was confused at first about why it is titled "The Pirate" since we don't encounter any pirates until half-way through.