Walter Scott and the Future of Caricature in the Novel

Abstract:This article explores Scott’s defense of “caricature” in the Novelist’s Library edition of Smollett’s novels and in the Magnum Opus editions of Ivanhoe, The Monastery, and The Talisman. I argue that fantastic and satirically rendered characters legible as “caricatures,” such as Sir Piercie Shafton, could represent the future of historical romance. My focus on what caricature meant to Scott, his readers, and readers of old and new novels in the early nineteenth century, suggests the potential of looking beyond satirical prints and graphic portraiture in an effort to understand caricature’s broader significance in the literary culture of the Romantic period.