Is Walter Scott to blame for the limitations of modern Scotland? In Possible Scotlands, Caroline McCracken-Flesher argues that Scott used his position as popular author to negotiate a national identity for his homeland. The variety of Scott's tales suggest not a Scotland receding into the past, but one energetically alive in the past and future of its telling.

1. Introduction: The Problem of Walter Scott Waverly and Guy Mannering ; 2. Circulating Scotlands The Antiquary, The Tale of Old Morality, The Heart of Midlothian ; 3. Chancing Scotland The Fortunes of Nigel and the King's visit ; 4. Performing Other/Wise the Talisman and Woodstock ; 5. Telling Over alachi Malagrowther and Chrystal Chroftangry ; 6. Conclusion: Making Meaning Beyond the Ending Castle Dangerous and Scott's Last Words

"A commendably brave, interventionist book."--Gerard Carruthers, Scotia "An excellent study."--Alison Lumsden, Studies in Hogg and His World "In Possible Scotlands, Caroline McCraken-Flesher puts a bold new post-devolution spin on the literary and cultural relationship of national ideas, and offers a strong defense, both national and densely theoretical, of the figure who most troubles this relationship, Walter Scott."--Judith Wilt, Studies in Romanticism "McCracken-Flesher opposes any unified or developmental view of Scott's career, attending instead to the ways in which each novel reconsiders the challenge of narrating a nation so as to continually undo any static view of the nation and its history. She reads Scott as a lively and thoroughly contemporary author (with a number of examples of his recent currency in official and unofficial culture).--SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900) "Possible Scotlands represents a novel and, in some ways, overdue treatment of Scott through the lends of postcolonial and poststructuralist theories whose currency reflect McCracken-Flesher's treatment of Scott as continuously current in discourses on culture and nation in Scotland."-Andrea Cabajsky, Université de Moncton "McCracken-Flescher's intriguing new Scott spills out of the Waverley novels into the contexts of Scottish media and political spectacle. Admirably researched." -- The Cambridge Quarterly "A commendably brave, interventionist book."--Gerard Carruthers, Scotia "McCracken-Flesher opposes any unified or developmental view of Scott's career, attending instead to the ways in which each novel reconsiders the challenge of narrating a nation so as to continually undo any static view of the nation and its history. She reads Scott as a lively and thoroughly contemporary author (with a number of examples of his recent currency in official and unofficial culture).--SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900) "Possible Scotlands represents a novel and, in some ways, overdue treatment of Scott through the lends of postcolonial and poststructuralist theories whose currency reflect McCracken-Flesher's treatment of Scott as continuously current in discourses on culture and nation in Scotland."-Andrea Cabajsky, Université de Moncton "McCracken-Flescher's intriguing new Scott spills out of the Waverley novels into the contexts of Scottish media and political spectacle. Admirably researched." -- The Cambridge Quarterly