James Hogg was born near Ettrick, Scotland in 1770. In 1824, he wrote The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner which Ian Crichton Smith considers, “a towering Scottish novel, one of the very greatest of all Scottish books.” This metaphysical thriller is the first psychological novel written a century before the genre became popular. It is a terrifying account of a psychopathic killer who abuses the Calvinist doctrine of predestination wherein God’s elect can do no wrong. Are God’s elect to live as they please as this character does?
Read the book if you can find it. Is it in your public library? It’s not in mine (I have my own copy, however). This is what happens to books when no one reads them. The Scottish literature and Scottish culture fades into the mist. One more book for the BookWraith.
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Why Am I Here?
- Book Wraith
- This blog will present Scottish books of influence for discussion. Read them now before they disappear into the mists of time.
Scottish Culture
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Gnawd (naturiol) i ddysgedig
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3 comments:
And not like Brigadoon - the books lost to the Bookwraith won't reappear in 100 years for future pleasure.
Might I direct you to come out of the mists and into the present day? You seem to be overlooking the very important work of the Stirling/South Carolina Research Edition of the Collected Works of James Hogg - within that sereis of some 28+ volumes, is the excellent edition of Confessions (published 2000 and 2002). You might also take cognisance of the many,many editions of Confessions published this century since Andre Gide's 1924 edition - see those by Canongate, Penguin Classics, etc. The book is very much alive both in academia and popular culture.
Yes, I am aware of the Stirling/South Carolina edition as well as the other editions you mentioned. However, the fact still remains that the book is not in the library in Jacksonville, Florida and other books I have mentioned in my blogs have been withdrawn because they are not being checked out.
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