Editing Walter Scott (section)

==Reputation==
{{more citations needed|section|date=April 2021}}

===Later assessment===
Although he continued to be extremely popular and widely read, both at home and abroad,<ref>"...it would be difficult to name, from among both modern and ancient works, many read more widely and with greater pleasure than the historical novels of ... Walter Scott." – [[Alessandro Manzoni]], ''On the Historical Novel''.</ref> Scott's critical reputation declined in the last half of the 19th century as serious writers turned from romanticism to realism, and Scott began to be regarded as an author suitable for children. This trend accelerated in the 20th century. For example, in his classic study ''[[Aspects of the Novel]]'' (1927), [[E. M. Forster]] harshly criticized Scott's clumsy and slapdash writing style, "flat" characters, and thin plots. In contrast, the novels of Scott's contemporary [[Jane Austen]], once appreciated only by a discerning few (including, as it happened, Scott himself) rose steadily in critical esteem, though Austen, as a female writer, was still faulted for her narrow ("feminine") choice of subject matter, which, unlike Scott, avoided the grand historical themes traditionally viewed as masculine.

Nevertheless, Scott's importance as an innovator continued to be recognised. He was acclaimed as the inventor of the genre of the modern historical novel (which others{{who?|date=July 2024}} trace to [[Jane Porter]], whose work in the genre predates Scott's{{cn|date=July 2024}}<ref>McLean, T. (2099). Jane Porter’s later works, 1825-1846. ''Harvard Library Bulletin'', ''20''(2), 45–63.</ref>) and the inspiration for enormous numbers of imitators and genre writers both in Britain and on the European continent. In the cultural sphere, Scott's Waverley novels played a significant part in the movement (begun with [[James Macpherson]]'s ''[[Ossian]]'' cycle) in rehabilitating the public perception of the [[Scottish Highlands]] and its culture, which had been formerly been viewed by the southern mind as a barbaric breeding ground of hill bandits, religious fanaticism, and [[Jacobitism|Jacobite risings]].

Scott served as chairman of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] and was also a member of the [[Royal Celtic Society]]. His own contribution to the reinvention of Scottish culture was enormous, even though his re-creations of the customs of the [[Scottish Highlands|Highlands]] were fanciful at times. Through the medium of Scott's novels, the violent religious and political conflicts of the country's recent past could be seen as belonging to history—which Scott defined, as the subtitle of ''Waverley'' ("'Tis Sixty Years Since") indicates, as something that happened at least 60 years earlier. His advocacy of objectivity and moderation and his strong repudiation of political violence on either side also had a strong, though unspoken, contemporary resonance in an era when many conservative English speakers lived in mortal fear of a revolution in the French style on British soil. Scott's orchestration of [[Visit of King George IV to Scotland|King George IV's visit to Scotland]], in 1822, was a pivotal event intended to inspire a view of his home country that accentuated the positive aspects of the past while allowing the age of quasi-medieval blood-letting to be put to rest, while envisioning a more useful, peaceful future.

After Scott's work had been essentially unstudied for many decades, a revival of critical interest began in the middle of the 20th century. While [[F. R. Leavis]] had disdained Scott, seeing him as a thoroughly bad novelist and a thoroughly bad influence (''[[The Great Tradition]]'' [1948]), [[György Lukács]] (''The Historical Novel'' [1937, trans. 1962]) and [[David Daiches]] (''Scott's Achievement as a Novelist'' [1951]) offered a Marxian political reading of Scott's fiction that generated a great deal of interest in his work. These were followed in 1966 by a major thematic analysis covering most of the novels by Francis R. Hart (''Scott's Novels: The Plotting of Historic Survival''). Scott has proved particularly responsive to [[Postmodern]] approaches, most notably to the concept of the interplay of multiple voices highlighted by [[Mikhail Bakhtin]], as suggested by the title of the volume with selected papers from the Fourth International Scott Conference held in Edinburgh in 1991, ''Scott in Carnival''. Scott is now increasingly recognised not only as the principal inventor of the historical novel and a key figure in the development of Scottish and world literature, but also as a writer of a depth and subtlety who challenges his readers as well as entertaining them.

===Memorials and commemoration===
[[File:Charles Robert Leslie - Sir Walter Scott - 96.945 - Museum of Fine Arts.jpg|thumb|left|Painted by C R Leslie 1824. Engraved by [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG24434 M I Danforth]
 1829]][[File:Scott Monument from St. David Street.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Scott Monument]] on Edinburgh's [[Princes Street]]]]
[[File:Sir Walter Scott statue at Scott Monument.jpg|thumb|upright|Statue by [[John Steell|Sir John Steell]] on the [[Scott Monument]] in Edinburgh]]
[[File:Scott Monument, Glasgow.JPG|thumb|upright|Scott Monument in Glasgow's [[George Square]]]]
[[File:Walter Scott statue, Glasgow.JPG|thumb|upright|Statue on the Glasgow monument]]

During his lifetime, Scott's portrait was painted by Sir [[Edwin Landseer]] and fellow Scots Sir [[Henry Raeburn]] and [[James Eckford Lauder]]. In 1824 by [[Charles Robert Leslie|C R Leslie]] later engraved by [https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG24434 M I Danforth] in 1829. After Watts Souvenir of 1829 was published Close friends and family said "That it was the best engraving that had yet appeared of the likeness of the author of Waverley" <ref>Watts Souvenir 1829 p 193 and p ix accessed 11 June 2024</ref> [https://archive.org/details/cabinetofmoderna00watt/page/n229/mode/2up?q=portrait Watts Souvenir 1829]   

Post Scott's life, 1833, W J Thompson painted a miniature for a gold memorial locket shown in [[William John Thomson|William John Thompson]]. 
In Edinburgh, the 61.1-metre-tall [[Victorian Gothic]] spire of the [[Scott Monument]] was designed by [[George Meikle Kemp]]. It was completed in 1844, 12 years after Scott's death, and dominates the south side of [[Princes Street]]. Scott is also commemorated on a stone slab in [[Makars' Court]], outside The Writers' Museum, [[Lawnmarket]], Edinburgh, along with other prominent Scottish writers; quotes from his work are also visible on the [[Canongate]] Wall of the [[Scottish Parliament building]] in [[Holyrood, Edinburgh|Holyrood]]. There is a tower dedicated to his memory on [[Corstorphine Hill]] in the west of the city and Edinburgh's Waverley railway station, opened in 1854, takes its name from his first novel.

In [[Glasgow]], [[public statues in Glasgow#George Square|Walter Scott's Monument]] dominates the centre of [[George Square]], the main public square in the city. Designed by [[David Rhind]] in 1838, the monument features a large column topped by a statue of Scott.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/143263/details/glasgow+george+square+walter+scott+s+monument/|title=Glasgow, George Square, Walter Scott's Monument|access-date=9 April 2011}}</ref>
There is a statue of Scott in New York City's [[Central Park]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/central-park/monuments/1411|title=Central Park Monuments – Sir Walter Scott : NYC Parks|website=www.nycgovparks.org}}</ref>

Numerous Masonic Lodges have been named after Scott and his novels. For example: Lodge Sir Walter Scott, No. 859 ([[Perth, Australia]]) and Lodge Waverley, No. 597, (Edinburgh, Scotland).<ref>Grand Lodge of Scotland Year Book. 2014. pp 25 & 34. {{ISBN|0902324-86-1}}</ref>

The annual [[Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction]] was created in 2010 by the [[Duke of Buccleuch|Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch]], whose ancestors were closely linked to Sir Walter Scott. At £25,000, it is one of the largest prizes in British literature. The award has been presented at Scott's historic home, Abbotsford House.

Scott has been credited with rescuing the [[Banknotes of the pound sterling|Scottish banknote]]. In 1826, there was outrage in Scotland at the attempt of [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] to prevent the production of banknotes of less than five pounds. Scott wrote a series of letters to the ''Edinburgh Weekly Journal'' under the pseudonym "''[[Malachi Malagrowther]]''" for retaining the right of Scottish banks to issue their own banknotes. This provoked such a response that the Government was forced to relent and allow the Scottish banks to continue printing pound notes. This campaign is commemorated by his continued appearance on the front of all notes issued by the [[Bank of Scotland]]. The image on the 2007 series of banknotes is based on the portrait by [[Henry Raeburn]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scotbanks.org.uk/banknotes/bank-of-scotland.html|title=Bank of Scotland|website=www.scotbanks.org.uk}}</ref>

During and immediately after World War I there was a movement spearheaded by [[Woodrow Wilson|President Wilson]] and other eminent people to [[Effect of World War I on children in the United States|inculcate patriotism in American school children]], especially immigrants, and to stress the American connection with the literature and institutions of the "mother country" of Great Britain, using selected readings in middle school textbooks.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/americanidealss00pelogoog|title=American Ideals: Selected Patriotic Readings for Seventh and Eighth Grades|author=Serl, Emma and Joseph Pelo, William |date=1919|publisher=The Gregg publishing company|others=New York Public Library}}</ref> Scott's ''Ivanhoe'' continued to be required reading for many American high school students until the end of the 1950s.

A bust of Scott is in the Hall of Heroes of the [[National Wallace Monument]] in [[Stirling]]. Twelve streets in [[Vancouver, British Columbia]] are named after Scott's books or characters.<ref>[https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/streets The origins of all 651 street names in Vancouver]. CBC Canada</ref>

In [[The Inch, Edinburgh|The Inch]] district of Edinburgh, some 30 streets developed in the early 1950s are named for Scott (Sir Walter Scott Avenue) and for characters and places from his poems and novels. Examples include Saddletree Loan (after Bartoline Saddletree, a character in ''[[The Heart of Midlothian]]''), Hazelwood Grove (after Charles Hazelwood, a character in ''[[Guy Mannering]]'') and Redgauntlet Terrace (after the 1824 [[Redgauntlet|novel of that name]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=Stuart |title=The Place Names of Edinburgh: Their Origins and History |date=2002 |publisher=Steve Savage Publishers |pages=323–324}}</ref>