David Hewitt is Reader in English at the University of Aberdeen.
The Antiquary is set in Scotland in the last years of the eighteenth century and centers around Jonathan Oldbuck, the Antiquary, the closest to a self-portrait of any Sir Walter Scott's characters.
The passionate lover, a familiar character to readers of Scott, is here represented by Lovell, who relentlessly pursues the woman he hopes to marry. The Antiquary is a constant commentator on the characters and their actions, always at hand to provide his opinionated version of the story.
While the reader may be swept up in the exciting plot, The Antiquary is a book that is not to be hurried; it has come to be appreciated for its rich description of a bygone age.
