Thesis--Calcutta University. / Bibliography: p. [299]-300.

Thesis--Calcutta University. / Bibliography: p. [299]-300.

Issued also as thesis, Bern. / "Literatur": p. [vii]-xv.

Thesis--University of North Carolina. / In Spanish with some preliminary material in English. Photocopy of typescript. Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International, 1978. -- 22 cm. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [213]-220).

Inaug.-Diss.--Tübingen. / Lebenslauf. "Benützte Bücher": p. 72-73.

Greifswald, Phil. Diss. v. 8. Mai 1913, Ref. Stengel. / Vita.

No description available.

As editor of the ballad collection Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802-3), Walter Scott sought to salvage and preserve the cultural memory of the Border region, rescuing “popular superstitions, and legendary history, which, if not now collected, must soon have been totally forgotten” (MSB 1802; 1: cix). Scott’s endeavour was inspired by the movement towards cultural nationalism, which in Scotland, as in a wider European context, saw interest in traditional material reinvigorated by a widespread zeal to recover, polish and publish ‘relics’ of localised, oral culture perceived to be threatened by the rapid march of modernity. This thesis is a study on the theme of memory in the Minstrelsy. Under examination are the personal and cultural memories from which Scott synthesised his seminal ballad collection, as well as the internal memorial dynamics of the Minstrelsy itself. The social, material and mental dimensions of Posner’s semiotic model of culture (Posner 1991), may also be seen to constitute the three main components of the term ‘cultural memory’, a metaphor for the memorial symbols and practices through which social groups define and maintain their cultural identity. A recent definition of the term interprets cultural memory as “the sum of all processes […] which are involved in the interplay of past and present within sociocultural contexts” (Erll 2011: 101). The Minstrelsy is a composite text in which ballad versions gathered from a range of oral and written sources are framed by Scott’s editorial commentary. This convergence of media means that the collection itself may be understood as a memorial, or ‘site of memory’ which symbolises a particular version of the past (Nora 1989). Through the editorial commentary, Scott was able to negotiate the transmission of cultural knowledge concerning the past of the Borders as well as the wider Scottish nation. The aims of this research are twofold. The first is to achieve a deeper understanding of the cultural contexts surrounding the creation of the Minstrelsy. The second is to contribute to the swiftly developing area of cultural memory studies through a focus on the editorial interpretation of oral tradition in the case of this canonical ballad collection. To this end, memoirs, correspondence and ballad manuscripts are drawn upon to investigate the layered memory culture of traditional songs, narratives, images and places through which Scott sifted during the compilation of the collection. The thesis is structured to represent a gradual widening in scope from the personal to the collective, throughout which it is argued that Scott’s editing of the Minstrelsy may be aligned with a mediated memorial practice that actively shapes the identity of the culture which he as editor sought to preserve.

This thesis is an exploration of the antiquarian materiality of Walter Scott’s fiction, considering his antiquarian practices alongside his fictional output to suggest that the two are vitally and intricately connected. It locates Scott’s antiquarian researches within the context of a contemporary antiquarianism increasingly concerned with safeguarding the relics, ruins, memories and manners of the national past. The aims of this thesis are threefold. First, it illuminates a more dedicated and dynamic participation in contemporary antiquarian practices than has previously been attributed to Scott, exploring a broad scope of material antiquarian activities in which he was engaged throughout his life. Second, it demonstrates how Scott’s literary output was shaped by his participation in aspects of material antiquarianism, populating his fictions with relics and remains, and recognising the potential of the material artefact as a productive site of narrative. Finally and most importantly, it argues that Scott’s fictions frequently act as textual extensions of his material practice. Scott’s poems and novels are in multifarious and dynamic ways actively involved in the processes of collection, exhibition, preservation, and conservation evident in Scott’s material practices. In so frequently and deliberately incorporating the material relics unearthed by his antiquarian practices into the corpus of his fiction, Scott’s literary works might be regarded as an additional space in which the material past might be preserved, conserved, exhibited, and enshrined. In this way, Scott’s literary works might therefore be considered as antiquarian repositories in which predominantly Scottish antiquities might be preserved.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.