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Selected Short Stories
John Galt's ability to write short stories crept up on him unawares. He was always, in print, a raconteur, a good teller of yarns - short narratives where the lively succession of incidents rather than the individual quality of the characters was what mattered.
The outburst of short stories that came in Galt's Indian summer has never achieved critical attention. One is printed from his manuscript and this is its first appearance in book form. Another is reprinted here in its entirety for the first time. A third makes its first appearance here since its printing in 1836. Written, as they were, in the West of Scotland - the spoken language in his ears day and night - they transmute into literary form an idiom that is not matched for authenticity and authority even in his better-known novels.
The Publisher and a portion of The Howdie are all that survive in manuscript. For the remainder texts are derived from the first printings. Background information on each of the stories is given in the Notes. Galt wrote a century and a half ago. The scenes he portrays go back another half century. Inevitably he now requires annotation, both for his language and for historical and local detail. The texts have been left unmarred by indication of footnotes but the final final pages of Annotations and Vocabulary, combined into one alphabetical sequence, will provide what is required for the reader curious to discover what is going on.
The outburst of short stories that came in Galt's Indian summer has never achieved critical attention. One is printed from his manuscript and this is its first appearance in book form. Another is reprinted here in its entirety for the first time. A third makes its first appearance here since its printing in 1836. Written, as they were, in the West of Scotland - the spoken language in his ears day and night - they transmute into literary form an idiom that is not matched for authenticity and authority even in his better-known novels.
The Publisher and a portion of The Howdie are all that survive in manuscript. For the remainder texts are derived from the first printings. Background information on each of the stories is given in the Notes. Galt wrote a century and a half ago. The scenes he portrays go back another half century. Inevitably he now requires annotation, both for his language and for historical and local detail. The texts have been left unmarred by indication of footnotes but the final final pages of Annotations and Vocabulary, combined into one alphabetical sequence, will provide what is required for the reader curious to discover what is going on.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
6 people want to read
About the author
John Galt
480 books17 followersJohn Galt was a Scottish novelist, entrepreneur, and political and social commentator. He was the first novelist to deal with issues of the Industrial Revolution and he has been called the first political novelist in the English language.
In 1820 Galt began to write for Blackwoods Magazine which published Annals of the Parish and The Ayrshire Legatees in 1821, The Provost and Sir Andrew Wylie in 1822, and The Entail in 1823. His novel Ringan Gilhaize (1823) offers a very different perspective on Scotland's Covenanting period to Walter Scott's The Tale of Old Mortality (1816).
Galt was instrumental in establishing the Canada Company, which was granted a charter in 1826 and bought almost 2.5 million acres of land from the British Government with a view to selling it on in individual plots to settlers. He founded the cities of Guelph and Goderich in Ontario. His novels Lawrie Tod (1830) and Bogle Corbet (1831) are concerned with the settlement of North America.
In 1820 Galt began to write for Blackwoods Magazine which published Annals of the Parish and The Ayrshire Legatees in 1821, The Provost and Sir Andrew Wylie in 1822, and The Entail in 1823. His novel Ringan Gilhaize (1823) offers a very different perspective on Scotland's Covenanting period to Walter Scott's The Tale of Old Mortality (1816).
Galt was instrumental in establishing the Canada Company, which was granted a charter in 1826 and bought almost 2.5 million acres of land from the British Government with a view to selling it on in individual plots to settlers. He founded the cities of Guelph and Goderich in Ontario. His novels Lawrie Tod (1830) and Bogle Corbet (1831) are concerned with the settlement of North America.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 22, 2018
What struck me while reading this collection was just how versatile John Galt was as a writer. Throughout these stories his style continually changes from first and third person narratives featuring characters from most walks of life.
Some of the stories also have quite a modern feel for something that was written in the early nineteenth century.
As with James Thomson B.V, I’m gobsmacked that Galt has been all but forgotten.
Lovely edition from the sadly defunct Scottish Academic Press.
Some of the stories also have quite a modern feel for something that was written in the early nineteenth century.
As with James Thomson B.V, I’m gobsmacked that Galt has been all but forgotten.
Lovely edition from the sadly defunct Scottish Academic Press.
Displaying 1 of 1 review