William Wallace: Man and Myth

Rating:
Summary: Not a Classic, But a Positive Step Forward
Review: First of all, Graeme Morton's book is NOT a biography. If you're seeking a biography, there are several on the market, although I wouldn't credit any of them particularly highly.

Instead of taking the usual biographical road "William Wallace: Man and Myth" chooses to bring a vital truth to light - a biography of the actual William Wallace, as he appears in chronicles and sources contemporary to his time, would fill all of three pages. Any book purporting to be a biography of the enigmatic Scot is actually a collection of "Wallaciana" - compendeum of 700 years of reconstruction and downright fictionalisation. The truth is very simple: Wallace has become a myth almost as potent (and controversial) as Arthur, and it is this Wallace, the man made out of myth, that Graeme Morton's book sets about deconstructing.

He provides a sequence of chapters comparing the Wallace myth with a)the actual sources b)subsequent literary and cinematic adaptations (like Blind Harry's 15th century epic "Wallace" and its glory-child of the 1990's "Braveheart") c)localised/national legends of Wallace. He follows up with an analysis of why and how an obscure medieval rebel leader has become a national (and international) symbol of identity and independence, including an interesting examination of the connection between Wallace and the ex-pat Scots communities of North America.

Overall, a tolerably written study, although it lacks some relevant scholarship and, like its recent counterparts, is born out of popular Wallace history rather than academic texts. Certainly worth it for those interested in the connection between the real Wallace and the Wallace we now know.