A bestselling author in his own time and long after, Sir Walter Scott was not only a writer of thrilling tales of romance and adventure but also an insightful historical thinker and literary craftsman. Over the last two decades, scholars have come to see him as an important figure in Romantic-period literature, Scottish literature and the development of the historical novel. Walter Scott and Contemporary Theory builds on this renewed appreciation of Scott's importance by viewing his most significant novels - from Waverley and Rob Royto Ivanhoe,Redgauntlet, and beyond - through the lens of contemporary critical theory. By juxtaposing pairings of Scott's early and later novels with major contemporary theoretical concepts and the work of such thinkers as Alain Badiou, Judith Butler, Jacques Derrida and Slavoj Zizek, this book uses theory to illuminate the complexities of Scott's fictions, while simultaneously using Scott's fictions to explain and explore the state of contemporary theory.

Acknowledgments Introduction: Everything you always wanted to know about Scott but were afraid to ask Contemporary Theory (and vice versa) Chapter 1. Subjectivity, or Waverley and Ivanhoe with Zizek Chapter 2. Historicity, or The Antiquary and Redgauntlet with Koselleck and DeLanda Chapter 3. Hybridity and Performativity, or Rob Roy and The Talisman with Bhabha and Butler Chapter 4.Governmentality, or The Heart of Mid-Lothian and Quentin Durward with Foucault and Agamben Chapter 5. Hospitality and Community, or The Bride of Lammermoor and Chronicles of the Canongate with Derrida, Habermas, and a Multitude of Theorists Conclusion: Posthuman Scott? Bibliography Index