Full Description
Set in early eighteenth-century Scotland, James Hogg's masterpiece is a brilliant psychological study of religious fanaticism and the power of evil. Led on by his sinister companion, Gil-Martin, Robert Wringhim commits a series of atrocious crimes. As the novel progresses, however, and the complexity of Wringhim's mind is revealed, the reader begins to doubt whether Gil-Martin even exists.
This edition of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner places the work within the context of Calvinism, Scottish political and constitutional history, and early psychological theories of "double consciousness." A wide-ranging introduction discusses the novel in relation to its setting as well as to the period in which it was composed.
Contents
Introduction
James Hogg: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
Appendix A: Contexts of Reference
The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans
Jean Calvin
A Cloud of Witnesses
Edward Fisher
James Hadow
Robert Burns
Appendix B: Contexts of Production
E.T.A. Hoffmann
Nicol Muschet
S.L. Mitchill
H. Dewar
Appendix C: Contemporary Reviews
Westminster Review, October, 1824
The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, 1824
The Examiner, August, 1824
The British Critic, 1824
Works Cited/Recommended Reading
Glossary
