Prefacing the Waverley Prefaces: A Reading of Sir Walter Scott Prefaces to the Waverley Novels

This is an extended reading of both the initial and the Magnum Opus prefaces to Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley novels. Instead of being poorly crafted, expendable fluff, the prefaces describe Scott’s theory of the historical novel - the subgenre he invented - and of historiography itself. The prefaces include an intricate arrangement of authorial personae, raising the essential questions concerning historical source material and narrative authority.