Scottish Journey: A Modern Classic

First published in 1935, Scottish Journey is a perceptive, subtle and beautifully written account by one of Scotland’s greatest modern writers of prose and poetry. Edwin Muir’s journey took him from Edinburgh to the Lowlands, to Glasgow and the Highlands, and the book, while a masterpiece of travel writing, is also a quest for the real nature of Scottish identity. T.C. Smout writes in his introduction to this edition: ‘Edwin Muir’s Scottish Journey has the clarity and impact of a brilliant photograph. As a traveller’s account it belongs to a genre familiar in writing about Scotland for centuries, and comprehending such masterpieces as the account of Dr Johnson …and the Wordsworths. For writing of this kind it has no real rival in the inter-war years …Muir held up a mirror to the face of Scotland all those years ago. It is frightening to see so many recognisable features in its glass.’