Circulation, Monuments, and the Politics of Transmission in Sir Walter Scott’s Tales of My Landlord

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Date

2012

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ELH, The Johns Hopkins University Press

Abstract

Time and time again, Scott has been accused of manipulating his representations of Scotland and its people in ways that cater to the mainstream -- that is, English -- reading public. Such accusations have started to appear soon after the first publication of his novels when, as Ina Ferris details, some of Scott’s contemporaries objected to his depiction of Covenanters in Old Mortality. The accusations continue to this day as critics argue that Scott essentially commodifies Scotland for the consumption of English readers in his historical novels. Rather than adding to these accusations, this article draws attention to the way Scott attempts to create an alibi, an excuse in his novels for these unsatisfactory representations. The opening passage to The Heart of Midlothian that I mention above, exemplifies Scott’s own sense of the contradiction inherent in taking a historical narrative transmitted within a particular local community and circulating it throughout the nation. In the following discussion of Old Mortality and The Heart of Midlothian, I examine how Scott attempts to negotiate and bridge the gap between isolated local communities and a print-based imagined community by theorizing narrative transmission within his frame narratives. For Scott, the national imagined community, which continues to extend its reach as roads are built and mail-coach routes are instituted, does not so much incorporate localities into a national network of communication as subordinate them. This subordination has dire consequences for the literary health of the nation, since the national print market brainwashes readers with mass-produced narratives that merely reproduce conventional patterns, while authentic historical narratives remain entrapped within individual local communities. In the first two installments of Tales of My Landlord series, Scott explores how an authentic historical narrative might be recovered from obscurity and put into national circulation without losing its authenticity. This exploration results in a series of renegotiations -- between circulation and stability, between reproductions and originals, between spatial and temporal transmission -- that help to establish a modern conception of literary value that lays the groundwork for institutionalizing the English novel.

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Keywords

Scott, Walter, 1771-1832--Criticism and interpretation, English literature--18th century, English literature--19th century, Literature and society, English literature--Scottish influences, National characteristics, Scottish, in literature

Citation

Takanashi, Kyoko. "Circulation, Monuments, and the Politics of Transmission in Sir Walter Scott's Tales of My Landlord." ELH 79.2 (2012): 289–314.

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This article first appeared in ELH,79.2 (2012): 289–314. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/479085

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Article