Pirate John Gow and Literary Renderings of his Career by Daniel Defoe and Sir Walter Scott
Pirate John Gow and Literary Renderings of his Career by Daniel Defoe and Sir Walter Scott

Author(s): Marek Błaszak
Subject(s): Cultural history, Studies of Literature, 19th Century, Philology, British Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Orkney pirate; unprincipled cutthroat; Romantic outlaw
Summary/Abstract: This article analyses two literary representations – by Daniel Defoe and Sir Walter Scott – of the career of an early-18th century Orkney pirate in order to confront the contemporary view of John Gow as an unprincipled cutthroat with later literary images of a Romantic corsair. It therefore examines evolving literary approaches in the period to socially transgressive behaviour.

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