Fiction Against History
Scott as Storyteller
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An analysis of the Waverley novels.Walter Scott was acutely conscious of the fictionality of his historical novels. James Kerr reads the Waverley novels as a grand fictional project constructed around the relationship between the language of fiction and historical reality. We can see throughout Scott's novels a tension between the romancer, recasting the events of the past in accordance with recognizably literary logics, and the historian, presenting an accurate account of the past. This contradiction, reflected in Scott's generic mixture of romance and realism, remains unresolved, even in the...
An analysis of the Waverley novels.
Walter Scott was acutely conscious of the fictionality of his historical novels. James Kerr reads the Waverley novels as a grand fictional project constructed around the relationship between the language of fiction and historical reality. We can see throughout Scott's novels a tension between the romancer, recasting the events of the past in accordance with recognizably literary logics, and the historian, presenting an accurate account of the past. This contradiction, reflected in Scott's generic mixture of romance and realism, remains unresolved, even in the most self-conscious of his works. It is in this interplay of fiction and history that Professor Kerr identifies the rich complexity of the Waverley novels.
Review quote:
'A complex and original interpretation of the novels (?)0; Kerr conducts some intense and scrupulous reading of Scott's texts, honoring their imaginative richness while exposing their unexpressed ideological commitments. He brings to bear on Scott a sound critical intelligence.' George Levine, Rutgers University
Table of contents:
Acknowledgements; A note on citations of the Waverley novels; 1. The historical novel and the production of the past; 2. The reemplotment of rebellion: Waverley and Old Mortality; 3. Historical fable and political fantasy: The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor; 4. Redgauntlet: the historical romance as metafiction; Notes; Index.
Walter Scott was acutely conscious of the fictionality of his historical novels. James Kerr reads the Waverley novels as a grand fictional project constructed around the relationship between the language of fiction and historical reality. We can see throughout Scott's novels a tension between the romancer, recasting the events of the past in accordance with recognizably literary logics, and the historian, presenting an accurate account of the past. This contradiction, reflected in Scott's generic mixture of romance and realism, remains unresolved, even in the most self-conscious of his works. It is in this interplay of fiction and history that Professor Kerr identifies the rich complexity of the Waverley novels.
Review quote:
'A complex and original interpretation of the novels (?)0; Kerr conducts some intense and scrupulous reading of Scott's texts, honoring their imaginative richness while exposing their unexpressed ideological commitments. He brings to bear on Scott a sound critical intelligence.' George Levine, Rutgers University
Table of contents:
Acknowledgements; A note on citations of the Waverley novels; 1. The historical novel and the production of the past; 2. The reemplotment of rebellion: Waverley and Old Mortality; 3. Historical fable and political fantasy: The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor; 4. Redgauntlet: the historical romance as metafiction; Notes; Index.