London, Jan 30 (ANI): Sir Walter Scott's 'Ivanhoe', which was considered too ponderous and wordy for the tastes of modern readers, has been controversially rewritten to make it easier to read.
The works of the early 19th century author recently fell out of favour even though his epic novels used to be required reading for generations of schoolchildren.
Now, a Scottish academic is hoping to revive the novelist's reputation by abridging Ivanhoe, one of his best known books, to make the work less "tedious" for a public raised on JK Rowling and Dan Brown.
David Purdie has spent 18 months cutting the classic, set in 12th century England, from 179,000 words to a more manageable 80,000.
The chairman of the Sir Walter Scott Club hopes to restore the popularity of a man who virtually invented the historical novel, and in doing so encourage the abridging of his other books.
However, his efforts have also led to a backlash from purists upset that such sacred texts could be altered. One former president of the Scott club has demanded that the edited work is not sold under the author's name.
While Purdie has retained the antiquated writing style used by Walter, he has taken out the swathes of punctuation, which extend the novel.
"Very few people read Scott these days because he's long and wordy and difficult for the modern ear and modern attention span," the Telegraph quoted Purdie as saying.
"In the early 19th century, a comma was placed after every phrase, which makes it tedious reading.
"I had this idea that I would have a goat redacting, abridging and adapting," he said.
Sir Walter, from Scotland, was one of the pioneers of the English language novel. He is generally considered the first ever historical novelist and English language writer to gain international fame.
After his death in 1832, despite grand monuments built to his memory in Edinburgh and Glasgow, his popularity has waned.
By the beginning of the 20th century his books were completely out of fashion, eclipsed by their more "entertaining" former contemporaries such as Jane Austen.
According to Purdie, if his new version is successful he could give other Scott books the same treatment.
"I would just like to see Scott back in the shops in a format that might entrance the young reader," he said.
However the move has not met with approval with all the members of the 119-year-old Scott Club.
"Some of the older members say you are toying with the original text. The younger members say its good, if its much more readable than the original I'm for it," Purdie added. ANI)
