Scott 1871: Celebration as cultural diplomacy

Abstract

There is a paradox at the heart of centenaries. On the one hand, each event positions itself as totally singular and ‘historic’, as a one-off affair devoted to the memory of a unique individual or event that can at best be replicated at intervals of 100 years. On the other hand, as this volume amply shows, the idea of publicly celebrating the memory of great writers, and, in particular, the idea of lavishly celebrating the 100th anniversary of their birth or death, was part of a more general cultural development. This meant that, as time passed, the accumulated memory of earlier centenaries would make it increasingly difficult for participants to be seduced by their enchantments. This was the case by the time the centenary of Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) came around in 1871.