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RESEARCH PRODUCT

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

subject

unprincipled cutthroatOrkney pirateRomantic outlaw

description

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.