[en] Methods developed for the description of scattering from correlated nuclei and applied previously to the elastic scattering of nucleons, and to quasifree (p,2p) reactions, are extended to include the possibility of describing composite nuclear projectiles. These methods are then applied to obtain a unified description of deuteron scattering. We consider the elastic and the stripping final channels explicitly. The correlated structure of the deuteron and of the target nucleus and the influence of these correlations on the off-shell character of the appropriate channel interactions are taken fully into account. So too are the Pauli and exchange effects due to the identity of the nucleons of the deuteron and the target nucleus. The theory leads to a two-potential formulation for the optical potential for deuteron elastic scattering. The correct energy dependence of these potentials is explicitly exhibited. Deuteron stripping is also discussed in some detail within the context of our formalism. We obtain the lowest-order expression for the stripping amplitude and we indicate a certain class of corrections to this lowest-order term. The various approximations which are necessary to make contact with phenomenological distorted-wave treatments are indicated. (4 figures, 1 table) (U.S.)