Walter Scott and the Limits of Language
Alison Lumsden
Abstract
Walter Scott's startlingly contemporary approach to theories of language and the creative impact of this on his work are explored in this new study, which examines the linguistic diversity and creative playfulness of Scott's fiction, and suggests that an evolving scepticism towards the communicative capacities of language runs throughout his writing. The book re-examines this scepticism in relation to Scottish Enlightenment thought and recent developments in theories of the novel. Structured chronologically, the book covers Scott's output from his early narrative poems until the late, and only ... More
Walter Scott's startlingly contemporary approach to theories of language and the creative impact of this on his work are explored in this new study, which examines the linguistic diversity and creative playfulness of Scott's fiction, and suggests that an evolving scepticism towards the communicative capacities of language runs throughout his writing. The book re-examines this scepticism in relation to Scottish Enlightenment thought and recent developments in theories of the novel. Structured chronologically, the book covers Scott's output from his early narrative poems until the late, and only recently published, Reliquiae Trotcosienses. Grounded in the scholarship of the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels, this book covers the well-known as well as often neglected poetry and late fiction, demonstrates Scott's pivotal role in the development of the novel form, and provides a thoroughly modern approach to Scott.
Keywords:
Walter Scott,
theories of language,
linguistic diversity,
creative playfulness,
scepticism,
communicative capacities of language,
Scottish Enlightenment
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2010 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780748641536 |
Published to Edinburgh Scholarship Online: March 2012 |
DOI:10.3366/edinburgh/9780748641536.001.0001 |