John Galt

Résumé du livre

"Galt was a man of many activities. He was a businessman, a parliamentary agent and an active colonist for some years in Canada ; but professor Gordons's book emphasizes Galt the writer. Galt has always had a high reputation for his group of Scottish novels, but one of the major discoveries of this book is that much of Galt's other work, which was never bee reprinted, is of comparable quality and interest. Earlier writers on Galt have entirely ignored his later, and classic, short stories; Professor Gordon's disinterment and dating of these is a triumph of literary detection. His use of Galt's correspondence with his publishers - notably William Blackwood and Oliver and Boyd- not only shows the week by week development of some of his best works, but also documents in contemporary detail the close relationship between author and publisher which conditioned much nineteenth century literature. He has also discovered that Galt's novels were considerably altered by his friend, Dr D. M. Moir, in later editions - indeed the printed version of the Last of the Lairds appeared in Galt's lifetime ruthlessly censored and rewritten; the original Galt manuscript of this novel, heavily over-written and expanded by Moir, is described for the first time. Another new find is a letter from Galt to Sir David Wilkie, highlighting the considerable influence they had on each other" - Publisher.