Review 418: Scottish Journey

Scottish Journey by Edwin Muir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While this is a travel journey around Scotland, it is much more. The book was written in 1935, about six months after the two-week journey described in the book. Being nearly 90 years ago now, one may look at this book as a historical look at Scotland rather than a travel book. And it is still more than that.

The frame of the book is Edwin Muir driving around the country for two weeks in an older car, and since these are early automobile days, of course it gave him trouble along the way. Instead of our typical travel descriptions, while sometimes is there, particularly when he reached the Highlands, he writes about the character of the people.

Such as in Edinburgh the people want to look at each other so take to walking about, although depending on class only walk in certain areas, “they turn back when they reach this invisible barrier”. The prostitutes are the only ones crossing these “barriers” with any ease and regularity.

In Glasgow Muir describes the slums and how industrialism has ruined the town and the countryside since many people moved for the jobs which now are nonexistent. There was a depression going on, shipbuilding he says is past its peak, unless another war breaks out (which it does, but he doesn’t know that).

Muir has lengthy passages of a political nature on several occasions. There’s quite a bit about Scottish people starving and suffering on unemployment. Every now and then he addresses the question of Independence and has some concluding thoughts in the last part of the book, which basically comes down to the question of economics.

Overall Muir provides a bleak look at Scotland, and perhaps it was at that time. I expect most of the world looked bleak as well. Although, certainly London, or England overall, was doing much better in comparison.

I found it curious that in the chapter titled Conclusion he states that one cannot know Scotland, even saying about his travels, “I could not find anything which I could call Scotland”. Muir himself is Scottish, first living in the Orkney Islands, then in Glasgow and elsewhere, although at that time was living in England. Curious.