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Mark Twain claimed that the Civil War was caused by the novels of Sir Walter Scott. The Southern gentry, he says, came to fantasize themselves a romantic Chivalry … like the heroes of novels such as Ivanhoe, and Quentin Durward, that it warped their sense of self-worth and superiority. In Life on the Mississippi, he wrote:
"Sir Walter had so large a hand in making Southern character, as it existed before the war, that he is in great measure responsible for the war. It seems a little harsh toward a dead man to say that we never should have had any war but for Sir Walter; and yet something of a plausible argument might, perhaps, be made in support of that wild proposition. The Southerner of the American Revolution owned slaves; so did the Southerner of the Civil War: but the former resembles the latter as an Englishman resembles a Frenchman. The change of character can be traced rather more easily to Sir Walter's influence than to that of any other thing or person."
A peculiar illustration of this Romantic self-image can be seen in the growing popularity of jousting and "ring sports" in the Antebellum era. Like the following illustration from Virginia in 1841:
285752[/ATTACH]']
.
Scott's romantic novels were popular in the North, too, but few took it to heart like in the South.
An interesting look at Jousting in 18th and 19th century America, with emphasis on the South, can be seen here:
http://www.nationaljousting.com/history/romantic.htm
"Sir Walter had so large a hand in making Southern character, as it existed before the war, that he is in great measure responsible for the war. It seems a little harsh toward a dead man to say that we never should have had any war but for Sir Walter; and yet something of a plausible argument might, perhaps, be made in support of that wild proposition. The Southerner of the American Revolution owned slaves; so did the Southerner of the Civil War: but the former resembles the latter as an Englishman resembles a Frenchman. The change of character can be traced rather more easily to Sir Walter's influence than to that of any other thing or person."
A peculiar illustration of this Romantic self-image can be seen in the growing popularity of jousting and "ring sports" in the Antebellum era. Like the following illustration from Virginia in 1841:
285752[/ATTACH]']
Scott's romantic novels were popular in the North, too, but few took it to heart like in the South.
An interesting look at Jousting in 18th and 19th century America, with emphasis on the South, can be seen here:
http://www.nationaljousting.com/history/romantic.htm
Bringing the