Hart, Francis Russell. The Scottish Novel from Smollett to Spark. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1978. 442 pp. British ed.: The Scottish Novel: A Critical Survey. London: Murray, 1978. 448 pp. PR8597.H37 823′.03.

A critical history of the development of the novel in Scotland from c. 1760 to the 1970s. In discussing approximately 200 works by some 50 novelists, Hart offers generally full descriptions of content and emphasizes distinctively Scottish motifs and methods but gives only limited attention to social context and style. Chapters are organized more or less chronologically, with a separate section on the novel of the Highlands and a concluding chapter on the theory of Scottish fiction. Indexed by persons and a few subjects. Praised for its scope and command of the topic, this work is the standard history of the Scottish novel. Reviews: John Clubbe, JEGP: Journal of English and Germanic Philology 78.3 (1979): 439–42; Cairns Craig, Studies in Scottish Literature 15 (1980): 302–10; David Daiches, Nineteenth-Century Fiction 34.1 (1979): 75–78.

Glen, Duncan. The Poetry of the Scots: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide to Poetry in Gaelic, Scots, Latin, and English. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1991. 149 pp. PR8561.G58 016.8091.

A highly selective bibliography of works, through 1990, by and about Scottish poets. Entries are organized in eight divisions: background studies (including sections for dictionaries, bibliographies, general and social histories of Scotland, general background studies, histories of Scottish literature, studies of languages, general studies of Scottish poetry, general critical studies of Scottish literature); anthologies and magazines; early Scots poetry (to the mid-sixteenth century); Renaissance poets; ballads; eighteenth-century poets; nineteenth-century poets; and twentieth-century poets. The sections on individual poets (which are variously organized within the period divisions) typically cite the best and other important editions, recordings, and a very few studies; some entries are accompanied by brief evaluative comments, with the best edition or recording usually followed by a lengthy assessment of the poet’s canon. Two indexes: poets; persons, anonymous works, subjects. Although highly selective and idiosyncratically organized, Glen offers a starting point for those unfamiliar with Scottish poetry (especially of the twentieth century).