Ivanhoe

Rating:
Summary: An Edinburgh Scot at the Court of King Richard
Review: "Ivanhoe" is Romanticism writ large. The author's style is elegant and lucid - often very funny - and the interpolated poetry is fine, too. Dialogue, action and description are all well handled. Scott established the historical novel as a popular literary form, paving the way for Dumas, Fennimore Cooper and countless others since. Fennimore Cooper in particular, was directly inspired to take up writing by Scott's enormous success.

Although he has been criticized for historical errors, Scott includes a wealth of authentic detail and he certainly stays far closer to the truth than Hollywood ever does. (Here's a thought; why have we become ever more demanding of historical accuracy in our authors, yet able to accept the most glaring errors on the cinema screen?) The sensibilities reflected in this book are mostly those of a conservative gentleman and scholar of the nineteenth, rather than twelfth, century. In particular, the depiction of the Jewish characters and the master-servant relationships tells us as much about Victorian Britain as about medieval England. Nonetheless, it is in many ways a convincing portrait of life in the Middle Ages. Having lived in what is now the industrial wastescape of South Yorkshire (you saw it in "The Full Monty"), where much of the action of "Ivanhoe" takes place, I enjoyed Scott's vision of a still green and pleasant Merry England where deer roamed vast forests and knights went in search of adventure.

The varied cast of characters is one of the novel's great strengths. The reader cares what happens to them because they are so real. Oddly, the eponymous hero plays a minor, albeit crucial, role in the tale and the putative heroine Rowena is overshadowed by the more interesting Rebecca.

Scott is best known however, for his storytelling skills. "Ivanhoe" has a terrific plot. At times, credibility is stretched a little too far for my taste. For example, characters rather too easily adopt disguises that fool even those who know them intimately. But you keep wanting to know what happens next, which is the essence of good plotting, and the story is blessedly free of the incredible coincidences that plagued eighteenth and nineteenth century English novels.

I think "A Tale of Two Cities" (despite what I call 'the curse of the coincidence'), "Vanity Fair" and especially, "The Cloister and the Hearth" are all better examples of historical novels by Victorian British writers, but "Ivanhoe" is still well worth reading. Most editions include Scott's introduction, spoof 'dedication' and copious notes. Modern readers may be tempted to skip these. They are well written but not essential to enjoying the novel itself. BEWARE; the introduction and the notes include spoilers. My advice is to read the novel first and then, if you enjoyed it, read those other sections. They do give some insight into the book's genesis.

Rating:
Summary: Still One of My Favotrites!
Review: A long time ago when I was 15 years old, my friends and I had a day off from school. We went into the city to look at bookstores, record stores, etc. In a bookstore I found a beautiful blue and gold hardbound copy of Ivanhoe, in two volumes with silk ribbons. It still remains one of my treasured possessions. The opening words still ring in my ears: "In that pleasant district of merry England, which is watered by the River Don..." The heroes, the villains, the damsels in distress, the stirring jousts, the siege of Torquilstone, all wonderful!!! I know Scott wrote better books than this, but none do I love more than Ivanhoe.

Rating:
Summary: Suspend your Inner Historian, Embrace the 19th Romantic
Review: Being a mediaevalist by trade I expected "Ivanhoe" to press all the wrong buttons - ludicrous inaccuracies, two-dimensional stock characters and a Disney-esque storyline. So I was pleasantly suprised when I found myself physically incapable of putting it down.

This sudden love affair with "Ivanhoe" (and, as a result, all Walter Scott's historical novels) is even more surprising given the fact that it is indeed inaccurate, somewhat two-dimensional and very predictable. Yet, it is partly these "faults" that inspired me to enjoy it so much. "Ivanhoe" embodies all my favourite childhood misconceptions about the Middle Ages, most of which have now been destroyed, or at least suppressed, by long years of studying the period. But it is still impossible to resist the inherent charm invested in such veritable floods of buckling swash - knights, tournaments, ladies, dark forests, honest outlaws, sieges, hermits, swine-herders, jesters, evil Kings and crusades.

The story arc is incredibly simple: Ivanhoe, banished by his father, Cedric, for falling in love with Cedric's ward Rowena, wins the patronage and friendship of Richard the Lion-Heart on Crusade in the Holy Land. On his return to England, eager to reclaim both his birthright and his fair lady, he is drawn into the struggle between honourable ole' Richard I and his scheming, moustache-twiddling brother John (*boo!*). Then follows tournaments, sieges, intrigues, kidnaps, a mysterious Black Knight in disgiuse, an alliance with Robin Hood (and his merry men, of course), a witch trial and some evil villains (all moustache-twiddling). Add to this a not-so-ascetic hermit with an incredible appetite for pies, a beautiful and sincere Jewess, Rebecca, her rich father Issac and a bundle of memorable Saxon "yeoman" and the stage is set.

Scott eagerly caricatures the mediaeval period, with a self-reflexive understanding of his sources and historical reality. The framing "Dedicatory Epistle" to one Dr. Dry-as-dust alerts the reader to his purpose, which is not to relate historical fact but to create historical myth. This he does with a good helping of satircal humour and deprecation, evoking a parody of both of the mediaeval period and the Romantic period.

Yet, the parody is sincere. Scott understands the main attractions of mediaeval life and yokes them to his purpose, writing a romance which is both exciting and self-critical. Every character and actions is memorable in its ability to overwrite, and reinvoke, ideals already blooming in our minds.

When Scott's London publisher first received the proofs for the first Volume of the novel, he apparently took them to read on his journey from Edinburgh to York. He wrote to his Scottish associate the next day exlaiming: "I read it so anxiously that I did not take any exercise or physical relief at the stages. It is a most extroadinary book." I cannot recommend it higher than that.

Rating:
Summary: Eh, it was ok
Review: I read this for my GT class. It was only fair...I think if I read it a few years from now I would appreciate it more.

Rating:
Summary: Ivanhoe sucks
Review: I thought that it was a really boring book. It was hard to read because it was like scriptures. They say thy, thou ,ye, and all that crazy stuff. It sucked

Rating:
Summary: The Worse Book I've ever Read
Review: I usually enjoy historical fiction as well as classics, but this book was unenjoyable; it was so boring, it even had a soporific effect on me! The book droned on and on for over 500 pages, and reading it was pure torture. To give you an idea on how verbose the book was, Sir Walter Scott went on for a couple of pages describing how one of the characters was dressed! Also, there was little depth to the main character, who was Ivanhoe. Once again, I hated this book!

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: If you have never read historical fiction before -- Sir Walter Scott is the author to start with. Ivanhoe is one of his most enjoyable works. Cynics may be too jaded for this noble story, but all others will come away impressed.


Rating:
Summary: good
Review: im thirteen, and ive read classics because ive had 2. but i wanted 2 read this 1 bcuz i read little women, and they mentioned it in there, so i got it from our library and read it. and i was very surprised. this is the only classic ive read, that were written bfor the 20th century, that actually isnt boring. rebecca the jewess is very cool, but rowena is a little spoiled brat, and 2 tell u the truth, i think ivanhoe should've married rebecca, even tho that wouldn't hav happened back then. my brother read it 2, and he thought it was good, and he usually doesn't like romance, like i do, but he thought it wuz good.

Rating:
Summary: More Than Just Another Medieval Romance
Review: It was fashionable during my school days (the 60s and 70s) to dismiss "Ivanhoe" as just another medieval romance replete with damsels in distress and their knights in shining armor. In retrospect, I think that was just a lazy excuse (certainly my own) to avoid wading through this rather lengthy, densely written historical novel. Take my advice, fellow reader: wade through. It is well worth your time and energy.

The story, of course, is set in Merry Ole England, with Richard the Lion-Hearted on the throne and his malevolent kid brother (the future King John of Magna Carta fame) plotting to take it away from him. From the history we do know of this period, King Richard rarely spent any time in England, much preferring to immerse himself in the Crusades or any other errant knight adventure which struck his fancy. In this setting we find the Saxon-bred Ivanhoe, who against his father's wishes joined Richard in the Middle East to fight the "Infidel." Ultimately, Ivanhoe finds his way back into his father's good graces, and I suppose at one level Sir Walter Scott's Classic is about their estrangement and final rapprochement. But "Ivanhoe" is so much more.

Perhaps the over-arching theme to "Ivanhoe" is the nascent reconciliation between the proud, yet vanquished, Saxons and their equally proud, conquering French Norman overlords. The story takes place about a century after the Norman Conquest, and it took a great many more years than that before the antagonists successfully blended together to form the greatest nation on earth. Equally great was the emergence of the language we now call English, which is in large measure a synthesis of the Saxon and Norman tongues. But at the time of "Ivanhoe," two distinct languages exist (and Scott never allows us to forget this essential fact), and the friction between the two races is palpable throughout.

"Ivanhoe" can be divided into three major scenes: the Passage of Arms at Ashby, the siege of Torquilstone, and the final contest at Templestowe for the life of the Jewish heroine, Rebecca. The entire novel can be viewed as three successive peaks separated by long, undulating transitional valleys. I hesitate to voice any criticism of Scott's greatest work, but maybe a brave editor would have made him shorten his transitions a bit. But no matter. "Ivanhoe" at its worst is still better than most, and the rather lengthy transitional passages slow the pace down for the players to utter Shakespearean-like commentary on the world as it is.

"Ivanhoe" is an enduring classic for so many reasons. For one thing, Sir Walter Scott is simply incapable of rendering one-dimensional characters. Even the evil triumvirate of Front-de-Boeuf, Maurice de Bracy and Bois-Guilbert is rendered (at times) in a sympathetic light. By the time they are besieged at the Castle of Torquilstone, the reader is salivating over the prospect of them dangling over the battlements, with or without their armor on. And, yet, as the stranglehold tightens, Scott has them utter some of the funniest and wittiest lines in the entire novel.

No review of "Ivanhoe" can be made without some reference to the stunningly beautiful Jewess, Rebecca-- one of the most honorable and sympathetic characters in all of literature. Whether she is hounded by libidinous knights, or being held for trial as a witch, Rebecca maintains her calm dignity throughout. She is unswervingly devoted to her faith from beginning to end, which is no mean feat for a Jew in 12th Century England. And there is simply no pretense to the woman. She is who she is, and she wishes us all to accept her for nothing more, nothing less.

The same cannot be said for many of the other central characters in "Ivanhoe." No doubt they are all heroic, but they all act heroically behind a mask. King Richard, Robin Hood, and even Ivanhoe are all in disguise, and that's what strikes this reader as so odd! Now, I understand "disguise" as a narrative plot device, but methinks there's way too many disguises floating around in "Ivanhoe." So, what does Sir Walter Scott really have in mind?

Well, here's one idea that harks back to a theme I touched upon earlier on. The story of "Ivanhoe" is the struggle between Saxon (rights) and Norman (prerogatives). Their eventual assimilation occurs centuries after the events in Scott's Classic, but the seeds of their reconciliation are thoroughly sown in "Ivanhoe." By having his central characters assume disguises, Sir Walter Scott has effaced (at least symbolically) all Saxon and Norman identities to aid in their eventual amalgamation as one great race.

All of which leads, perhaps, to a grander theme that Scott had in mind when he penned "Ivanhoe." His very first scene begins with the court jester, Wamba, seated on an ancient Druidical monumnet, and lecturing his companion, Gurth, on the proper use of Saxon and Norman words. The setting reminds us of just how old the Island Kingdom really is, and that the history of England is, indeed, the history of invasion. The Norman Conquest of 1066 displaced Harold and his Saxon vassals, but don't feel too sorry for the Saxons. They had their run, defeating various indigenous tribes of the 7th-9th Centuries, not to mention fighting off one Viking raid after another. And, of course, the Romans crossed the Channel as far back as Julius Caesar whose initial inroads were eventually consolidated by the Emperor, Claudius, who defeated the Celtic Queen Boadicia.

Now, my history may miss its mark a bit, but I think you get the point. What, precisely, is an Englishman? Norman, Saxon, Viking, Roman, Celtic, Pict, Druid? I think the Scottish-born Walter Scott, whose native language was not English, thought very deeply about that question, and "Ivanhoe" is his eloquent, meditative response.

Rating:
Summary: More Than Just Another Medieval Romance
Review: It was fashionable during my school days (the 60s and 70s) to dismiss "Ivanhoe" as just another medieval romance replete with damsels in distress and their knights in shining armor. In retrospect, I think that was just a lazy excuse (certainly my own) to avoid wading through this rather lengthy, densely written historical novel. Take my advice, fellow reader: wade through. It is well worth your time and energy.

The story, of course, is set in Merry Ole England, with Richard the Lion-Hearted on the throne and his malevolent kid brother (the future King John of Magna Carta fame) plotting to take it away from him. From the history we do know of this period, King Richard rarely spent any time in England, much preferring to immerse himself in the Crusades or any other errant knight adventure which struck his fancy. In this setting we find the Saxon-bred Ivanhoe, who against his father's wishes joined Richard in the Middle East to fight the "Infidel." Ultimately, Ivanhoe finds his way back into his father's good graces, and I suppose at one level Sir Walter Scott's Classic is about their estrangement and final rapprochement. But "Ivanhoe" is so much more.

Perhaps the over-arching theme to "Ivanhoe" is the nascent reconciliation between the proud, yet vanquished, Saxons and their equally proud, conquering French Norman overlords. The story takes place about a century after the Norman Conquest, and it took a great many more years than that before the antagonists successfully blended together to form the greatest nation on earth. Equally great was the emergence of the language we now call English, which is in large measure a synthesis of the Saxon and Norman tongues. But at the time of "Ivanhoe," two distinct languages exist (and Scott never allows us to forget this essential fact), and the friction between the two races is palpable throughout.

"Ivanhoe" can be divided into three major scenes: the Passage of Arms at Ashby, the siege of Torquilstone, and the final contest at Templestowe for the life of the Jewish heroine, Rebecca. The entire novel can be viewed as three successive peaks separated by long, undulating transitional valleys. I hesitate to voice any criticism of Scott's greatest work, but maybe a brave editor would have made him shorten his transitions a bit. But no matter. "Ivanhoe" at its worst is still better than most, and the rather lengthy transitional passages slow the pace down for the players to utter Shakespearean-like commentary on the world as it is.

"Ivanhoe" is an enduring classic for so many reasons. For one thing, Sir Walter Scott is simply incapable of rendering one-dimensional characters. Even the evil triumvirate of Front-de-Boeuf, Maurice de Bracy and Bois-Guilbert is rendered (at times) in a sympathetic light. By the time they are besieged at the Castle of Torquilstone, the reader is salivating over the prospect of them dangling over the battlements, with or without their armor on. And, yet, as the stranglehold tightens, Scott has them utter some of the funniest and wittiest lines in the entire novel.

No review of "Ivanhoe" can be made without some reference to the stunningly beautiful Jewess, Rebecca-- one of the most honorable and sympathetic characters in all of literature. Whether she is hounded by libidinous knights, or being held for trial as a witch, Rebecca maintains her calm dignity throughout. She is unswervingly devoted to her faith from beginning to end, which is no mean feat for a Jew in 12th Century England. And there is simply no pretense to the woman. She is who she is, and she wishes us all to accept her for nothing more, nothing less.

The same cannot be said for many of the other central characters in "Ivanhoe." No doubt they are all heroic, but they all act heroically behind a mask. King Richard, Robin Hood, and even Ivanhoe are all in disguise, and that's what strikes this reader as so odd! Now, I understand "disguise" as a narrative plot device, but methinks there's way too many disguises floating around in "Ivanhoe." So, what does Sir Walter Scott really have in mind?

Well, here's one idea that harks back to a theme I touched upon earlier on. The story of "Ivanhoe" is the struggle between Saxon (rights) and Norman (prerogatives). Their eventual assimilation occurs centuries after the events in Scott's Classic, but the seeds of their reconciliation are thoroughly sown in "Ivanhoe." By having his central characters assume disguises, Sir Walter Scott has effaced (at least symbolically) all Saxon and Norman identities to aid in their eventual amalgamation as one great race.

All of which leads, perhaps, to a grander theme that Scott had in mind when he penned "Ivanhoe." His very first scene begins with the court jester, Wamba, seated on an ancient Druidical monumnet, and lecturing his companion, Gurth, on the proper use of Saxon and Norman words. The setting reminds us of just how old the Island Kingdom really is, and that the history of England is, indeed, the history of invasion. The Norman Conquest of 1066 displaced Harold and his Saxon vassals, but don't feel too sorry for the Saxons. They had their run, defeating various indigenous tribes of the 7th-9th Centuries, not to mention fighting off one Viking raid after another. And, of course, the Romans crossed the Channel as far back as Julius Caesar whose initial inroads were eventually consolidated by the Emperor, Claudius, who defeated the Celtic Queen Boadicia.

Now, my history may miss its mark a bit, but I think you get the point. What, precisely, is an Englishman? Norman, Saxon, Viking, Roman, Celtic, Pict, Druid? I think the Scottish-born Walter Scott, whose native language was not English, thought very deeply about that question, and "Ivanhoe" is his eloquent, meditative response.