Limburg 1
Lauren Limburg
ENL 3212
Dr. Maioli
4/18/17
A Line Between Romance and the Novel: Classifying
Ivanhoe
into a Genre
Sir Walter Scott’s
Ivanhoe; A Romance
was quite unusual for the eighteenth century.
While most writers were trying to distance themselves from the classification of “Romance,”
Scott labeled his work as a Romance on the cover page. However, since so much time had been
spent creating distance from the categorization of Romance, a new form of writing had emerged:
The Novel. Defining the Novel and Romance come down to plot points, style, detail, and the
specific content. The exact line for this paper will be derived from Ian Watt’s
The Rise of the
Novel
as he made the distinction between the structure of the Novel and how it deviated from the
Romance. The three major distinctions being the rejection of traditional plots, particularity
whether it be in individuals, time, and space, and referential language.
Ivanhoe; A Romance
(herein
Ivanhoe
) is complicated by the Dedicatory Epistle to the Reverend Dr. Dryasdust merely
four pages later. Scott fears that
Ivanhoe
will be placed in that same "class with the idle novels
and romances of the day" (5). Scott goes out of his way to write a letter putting distance between
Novels and Romances, but he still labels his work as such. The matter is further complicated by
Scott as he writes "the public would at once have seen the propriety of inscribing a work
designed to illustrate the domestic antiquities of England" (5). This leads one to believe it could
be historical fiction. The confusion in classification raises the question: What is
Ivanhoe
? Is it
historical fiction, a novel, or a romance? In this essay, I hope to demonstrate the intricacies of
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such a publication and how Scott blended two genres to produce a story that felt modern and
intricate.
Ivanhoe
appears as a glimpse into medieval times with extensive detail and accurate
portrayals of the lives and daily rules. It is in these details that
Ivanhoe
begins to distinguish
itself as the idea of the novel known today. The details of time and space are mentioned at great
length and effect the plot of the novel in ways that the romance lacked. “That large decayed
oak…marks the boundaries over which Front-de-Boeuf claims authority...There is now no fear of
pursuit” (Scott 62). Space is a factor in pursuit and one of the biggest reasons why the yeomen
can lay siege to Front-de-Boeuf's castle, the remaining allies to the knights are too far away and
the nearest castle could not be reached. Whereas in certain Romances like
