Sir Walter Scott: A Lecture at the Sorbonne

W.P. Ker, a distinguished scholar of medieval literature, delivers this lecture at the Sorbonne in 1903, offering a sophisticated assessment of Sir Walter Scott's place in European letters. The lecture examines why Scott, though often dismissed by later critics as merely a historical romancer, was revered across the continent, from Stendhal's admiration to Pushkin's debt, and what that reception tells us about the novel's possibilities. Ker probes the peculiar dualities of Scott's achievement: his Scottish particularism that became universal, his narrative surface that concealed psychological depth, and his capacity to make history feel alive without sacrificing its complexity. Through close attention to Ivanhoe and Rob Roy, Ker demonstrates that Scott's genius lay not in period decoration but in his revolutionary method of characterization and dialogue that crackled with authenticity. This lecture remains valuable not as hagiography but as a model of literary criticism that takes popular success seriously while demanding it earn its accolades.