Dumbing Down!!!!!

Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe controversially rewritten to make it easier to read

His epic novels used to be required reading for generations of schoolchildren.

But the works of the early 19th century author Sir Walter Scott have recently fallen out of favour, considered too ponderous and wordy for the tastes of modern readers.
Now a Scottish academic is hoping to revive the novelist's reputation by abridging Ivanhoe, one of his best known books, to make the work less "tedious" for a public raised on JK Rowling and Dan Brown.
Professor David Purdie has spent 18 months cutting the classic – set in 12th century England – from 179,000 words to a more manageable 80,000.
The chairman of the Sir Walter Scott Club hopes to restore the popularity of a man who virtually invented the historical novel - and in doing so encourage the abridging of his other books.
But his efforts have also led to a backlash from purists upset that such sacred texts could be altered. One former president of the Scott club has demanded that the edited work is not sold under the author's name.
While Prof Purdie has retained the antiquated writing style used by Sir Walter, he has taken out the swathes of punctuation which extend the novel.
He said: "Very few people read Scott these days because he's long and wordy and difficult for the modern ear and modern attention span.
“In the early 19th century, a comma was placed after every phrase, which makes it tedious reading.
"I had this idea that I would have a goat redacting, abridging and adapting."
Sir Walter, from Scotland, was one of the pioneers of the English language novel. He is generally considered the first ever historical novelist and English language writer to gain international fame.
But after his death in 1832, despite grand monuments built to his memory in Edinburgh and Glasgow, his popularity has waned.
By the beginning of the 20th century his books were completely out of fashion, eclipsed by their more "entertaining" former contemporaries such as Jane Austen.
Prof Purdie said that if his new version is successful he could give other Scott books the same treatment.
"I would just like to see Scott back in the shops in a format that might entrance the young reader," he said.
However the move has not met with approval with all the members of the 119-year-old Scott Club.
Prof Purdie said: "Some of the older members say you are toying with the original text. The younger members say its good, if its much more readable than the original I'm for it."
The club secretary Professor Peter Garside, who specialises in Scottish literature, said: "A Scott purist would say that Scott wrote it a certain way, and that's how he intended it to be.
"Something which is a reduction of Scott, and introducing new elements, is producing something which is not Scott himself, but could have a beneficial effect in inspiring new interest and possibly leading people back to the original text."
Professor David Hewit, emeritus professor of Literature at Aberdeen University and a former president of the Scott club, rejected the idea that Scott books were not popular with modern Scottish readers.
"The idea that Scott is neglected, no, it's not neglected at all," he said.
"Ivanhoe is being well read."
He said he would only approve of the new work "provided you don't call it Sir Walter Scott, but Scott via Purdie. Or, after the novel by Sir Walter Scott."
He said that Penguin editions for the book had sold around 100,000 copies in the last decade, with worldwide sales of around 200,000 copies.
Famous fans of Ivanhoe include Tony Blair, who said it he would take it to a desert island with him, and Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, who praised the gallantry shown in the novel.
Screen versions of the story have starred Rodger Moore and film icon Elizabeth Taylor.