Scott was the first British novelist to discover in landscape a literary as well as a pictoral medium, an insight which he exploits to powerful effect in his Scottish novels. Mr Reed's book breaks new ground by demonstrating the originality of Scott's landscapes, in which romantic nature takes its place in a realistic context of people, history, architecture and traditions. The author shows how, as poet and novelist, Scott explores the notion of place to a depth where it operates not merely as dramatic background but as a force which shapes and directs the minds of its inhabitants. This study adds a new dimension to the understanding of Scott's work.

James Reed, formerly Head of Humanities at Bingley College, Yorkshire, is the author of The Border Ballads (Athlone Press, 1973).