Sir Walter Scott’s The Antiquary and the Ossian Controversy
Thursday 6th October 2016
Summary of the Talk:
The essay examines the novel The Antiquary by Sir Walter Scott in the context of the cultural debates surrounding the authenticity of James Macpherson’s Ossian poems. The essay explores how these issues are reflected within Scott's work, especially in the character of Jonathan Oldbuck, an antiquary who is deeply invested in understanding Scotland's historical and national identity. The novel touches on various antiquarian pursuits, including the dispute over the Ossian poems, which Macpherson presented as translations of ancient Gaelic texts but were widely considered forgeries. Scott himself had engaged in the Ossian debate, with his review of the controversy reflecting his scepticism towards Macpherson's claims.
Scott’s The Antiquary incorporates the Ossian controversy to examine themes of national identity, authenticity, and the blending of historical fact with fiction. The essay suggests that Scott uses the debates around Ossian to explore the tension between myth and reality in the construction of Scotland's historical narrative. The character of Oldbuck, with his passion for antiquarian studies, represents the obsession with material history and the search for a coherent national past. Through the conflicts in the novel, especially between Oldbuck and his neighbour Sir Arthur Wardour, Scott highlights the ideological battle over Scotland’s origins, whether Celtic or Gothic.
The essay concludes by noting that Scott's novel engages with these controversies humorously but also critically. Through Oldbuck's interactions and the reworking of traditional Scottish narratives, The Antiquary questions the reliability of historical narratives and emphasizes the fluid nature of national identity.
Interesting Points Worth Mentioning:
- Antiquarianism and National Identity: The novel's focus on the antiquarian obsession with material relics of the past reflects the broader historical debates of the time about Scottish identity. Scott critiques both the over-romanticized view of Scotland’s Celtic roots (as represented by the Ossian controversy) and the historical revisionism surrounding its Gothic or Germanic origins.
- Scott's Personal Engagement: The essay highlights that Scott himself was heavily involved in the Ossian debate. Despite criticizing Macpherson’s forgeries, Scott acknowledged that the Ossian poems had helped elevate Scottish literature on the world stage and had inspired his own poetic works.
- Mock-Heroic Elements: The narrative of The Antiquary parodies the epic tone found in works like Ossian, particularly in the character of Hector MacIntyre, who embodies the Highlander’s connection to these mythical texts. Scott uses humour and irony to highlight the absurdity of romanticized heroism in the context of the novel's more grounded plot.
- Fiction vs. Fact in History: Scott blurs the lines between fiction and history, using Oldbuck’s antiquarian pursuits to explore how historical narratives are constructed and manipulated. The novel ultimately raises questions about the "truth" of history, suggesting that national identity is often a product of selective memory and fabrication.
- Scott’s Vision of Scottish Unity: Through Oldbuck's defeat of Macpherson's Ossian and the broader reconciliation of different factions (Goths and Celts), Scott envisions a unified Scottish identity that transcends historical divisions. This reflects his broader political and literary agenda of promoting a cohesive national identity in post-Union Britain.
These points illuminate how Scott’s
The Antiquary
engages with significant cultural issues of the time, blending literary analysis with historical reflection on Scotland’s evolving identity.
Download the [transcript]
Download the [transcript]
Introduction by our Chairman, Prof. Peter Garside:
Welcome to this year’s annual Joint Scott Lecture; and before going any further, in speaking on behalf of the Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club, I’d like to acknowledge the essential input received from firstly our co-sponsors the English Department at the University of Edinburgh and secondly our hosts the Faculty of Advocates. Walking once more through these portals, it’s hard to think of a more appropriate location for this event, in surrounds which one could say offer a mini-history of Scott’s life just as potent as Abbotsford. Even before getting to this capacious sitting-room we pass along the even more splendid high-arched Parliament Hall, home of the original Scottish Parliament, prior to its being handed over the lawyers after the Union of 1707. It was there that senior advocates perambulated together in small groups, to avoid being overheard, shadowed by junior members such as the young Scott eager to give the impression that they too had business. Some of you might have noticed the statue of a sedentary Scott, by John Greenshields, who started his own career as an apprentice stone mason. ‘Sic Sedebat’ it says at the foot’ ‘Thus [or In this way] he sat’. Then through the now laptop-filled reading rooms of the Advocates Library, where Scott in his earlier years got vital access to manuscripts and rare books, and which of course later provided the foundation for the National Library of Scotland. One year I seem to remember the Faculty placing in this room the green leather chair which Scott occupied as a Clerk to the Court of Session. Perhaps it’s still here, and even has Scott sitting in it—in spirit at least (‘Thus’ you might say).
So, it is a great pleasure to introduce Nigel Leask as today’s speaker. Nigel was previously Reader in Romantic Literature at Cambridge, where among other things he gained a reputation for ground-breaking work on Orientalism. He is now Regius Chair in English Language and Literature at the University of Glasgow (in fact, I believe he’s the third in a succession of speakers to the Scott Club from that University, indicating the high concentration of academics specialising in Scottish literature there, as well as their willingness to be called on!) . His most recent critical study is Robert Burns and Pastoral: Poetry and Improvement in Late Eighteenth-century Scotland (Oxford U.P., 2010), which won the Saltire Prize for the best research monograph in 2010. His edition of Robert Burns’s Commonplace Books, Tour Journals and Miscellaneous Prose—the first volume of the AHRC [that is, Art and Humanities Research Council] funded Oxford Edition of Robert Burns’s Writings—was published in 2014. He is co-investigator of the AHRC-funded ‘Curious Travellers: Thomas Pennant and the Welsh and Scottish Tour, 1750-1820’ (2014-18), and is currently completing a book entitled Stepping Westward: Writing the Highland Tour 1720-1820. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and a Vice-President of the Association for Scottish Literary Studies.
His lecture today, titled ‘Scott’s Antiquary and the Ossian Controversy’, seems timely on two counts: first, in view of this year being the bicentenary of Scott’s novel of that name; and secondly in the light of renewed interest in the fields of literary antiquarianism and romantic nationalism. It will examine Scott’s presentation of the Ossian debate in The Antiquary as one aspect of the contentious discussion about Scottish identity and ethnicity, relating it to his 1805 Edinburgh Review essay on Ossian, and suggesting that it plays a more significant role in the novel than has hitherto been recognised.
