The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Experiment could win The Fair Maid of Perth newyoungeraudience
A social media experiment could secure a new, younger audience for the literary classic which transformed Perth into the Fair City.
The Fair Maid of Perth, Sir Walter Scott’s weighty tome from 1828, will be republished for the first time in Tweet form.
Perth-based Tippermuir Books will use micro-blogging app Twitter to tell a re-edited version of the story, a tale of royal intrigue during the late 14th Century Battle of the Clans in the city’s North Inch.
Dr Paul Philippou, who cofounded the city centre publishing firm, said he hoped the Tweet edition would bring the book to a younger audience, as well as those who have shied away from Scott’s work, fearing it too old-fashioned.
It will also help commemorate the book’s 190th anniversary.
Dr Philippou intends to send out four tweets a day, starting today. He said: “A few years back, Matthew Mackie, one of the Tippermuir Books team, persuaded me to read The
Fair Maid of Perth. I had been reluctant to before, as it is quite a big tome written in the early 19th Century, and I just felt it would be a tiresome read. I found myself captivated by Scott’s mastery of historical fiction and his ability to weave together a romance set in Perthshire and Scottish history.”
The Tippermuir team was inspired to put together a book — Scott’s Fair City — to celebrate and summarise the tale and make it more accessible to all. They have also been talking to local historic re-enactment groups and funding bodies about launching a Walter Scott Festival in Perth, with dramatic recreations of the Battle of the Clans on North Inch.
Dr Philippou, an honorary research fellow in history at Dundee University, said: “It would be great if, with the publication of Scott’s Fair City and the Fair Maid of Perth Tweet Edition, Perth and Kinross Council or another body might see merit in a Walter Scott Festival. The trouble is, while most people know of the book, not everyone has read it. The Tweet edition comprises 43 tweets, covering Scott’s 37 chapters. It was too difficult to get it down to one tweet per chapter.”
Fair Maid scholar Dr Nicola Cowmeadow, a history officer at Culture Perth and Kinross, said: “We’re all about innovative ways to shine a spotlight on the arts and culture.
“That’s why it’s wonderful to see Sir Walter Scott’s novel given a 21st Century airing on Twitter.”