Scottish Writing cards

Quote of the Month

February 2009

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner is a startling tale of murder and madness set in a time of troubles like our own. Robert Wringhim is a religious fanatic: one of God's chosen who believes himself free to disregard the strictures of morality — a view in which he is much encouraged by the elusive, peculiarly striking foreigner who becomes his dearest friend. Describing the seductive mutual dependence of these soulmates and the way — efficient at first, then increasingly intoxicated — they go about settling scores with their (and of course God's) enemies, James Hogg presents a powerful picture of evil in the world and in the heart and mind. This work of black humor, acute psychological insight, and, in the end, deeply compassionate humanity is one of the masterpieces of literature in English.

An unclassifiable tale of mystery, murder, religious fanaticism, folklore, horror, and fantasy, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, published in 1824, was for many years forgotten. Scottish writer James Hogg, a self-educated shepherd once popular for his poetry and magazine articles, published the novel anonymously, correctly assuming that its strange, experimental style and horrific subject matter would not be appreciated by the general public. It was only in the late 1940s that French writer André Gide acclaimed it as a masterpiece.

Text description and analysis borrowed with thanks from the New York Review of Books and Bewildering Stories websites.

*ASLS offer a Scotnote on James Hogg's The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, by Elaine Petrie. The Scotnotes are a collection of study guides on major Scottish writers and literary texts. You can order Scotnotes from Amazon.co.uk or BooksfromScotland.com

The Scottish Writing Cards

The Scottish Writing Cards are a set of 32 unique, business-size cards, each presenting a quote from a Scottish writer, from Violet Jacob and Liz Lochhead to Robert Louis Stevenson and James Hogg. Click on the numbers below for a quick taster of Scottish literature!

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 |

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