The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner
Encyclopedia
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, (Full title, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner: Written by Himself: With a detail of curious traditionary facts and other evidence by the editor) is a novel
that was written by the Scottish
author James Hogg
and published anonymously (although his reputation was well established) in 1824.
Considered by turns part-gothic novel
, part-psychological mystery
, part-curio
, part-metafiction
, part-satire
, part-case study of totalitarian thought
, it can also be thought of as an early example of modern crime fiction
in which the story is told, for the most part, from the point of view of its criminal anti-hero
. The action of the novel is located in a historically definable Scotland
with scientifically observed settings, and simultaneously infers a pseudo-Christian
world of angels, devils, and demonic possession
.
After its publication, the novel suffered from a period of critical neglect, especially in the nineteenth century, but since the latter part of the twentieth century has won greater critical interest and attention, perhaps most especially as a study of religious fanaticism
through its deeply critical portrait of the Calvinist concept of predestination
. It is written in English
, with some sections of Scots
that appear in dialogue.
of a young man, Robert Wringhim (or Wringham), who encounters a shape-shifting figure only ever identified as "Gil-Martin". This urbanely mephistophelian
visitation — an early instance of the doppelganger
in fiction — appears after Robert is declared by his "adopted" father to be one of the elect
, and therefore a "soul
" predestined to attain salvation
. Although this invests Wringhim with a sense of infallible moral justification, he is at the same time tortured with self-doubt
. Ostensibly co-erced by Gil-Martin (who the reader clearly sees exploiting these two mental states) Wringhim is led to commit a long series of offences, including multiple murder
s.
Wringhim's own account of the dark counsel of his visiting angel
forces questions regarding how self-aware he may in fact be. But the novel's dilemmas are not merely psychological; as the narrative progresses, the material relation between Wringhim and Gil-Martin, and between Gil-Martin and the historical events of the story itself, become increasingly problematised.
The novel opens with the unhappy marriage of Rabina Orde with George Colwan, the Laird of Dalcastle. This event has repercussions throughout the book, setting the scene for conflicts to come. Rabina is a prudish bigot who disapproves of her new husband because he dances and drinks alcohol. The couple soon separates. However, Rabina Colwan gives birth to two children. The first, George, is the son of the Laird of Dalcastle, but the second, Robert, is most likely the son of the Reverend Wringhim, Rabina’s spiritual advisor who lives with her.
The two brothers live apart and never interact until the main events of the novel take place. George, raised by the Laird of Dalcastle, becomes a friendly, typical young man who enjoys sports and socializing with his friends. Robert, educated by his mother and adoptive father Reverend Wringhim, is quite the opposite, priggish, malicious, and conceited. He is indoctrinated into Reverend Wringhim’s radical sect of Calvinism, which holds that only certain elect people are predestined to be saved by God. According to these extremists, these chosen few will have a heavenly reward regardless of how their lives are lived. Everyone else will be damned. Robert Wringhim takes this already extreme belief to the furthest boundaries of wickedness, using it to justify a degenerate life of crime.
In the first part of the novel, Robert Wringhim appears as a force so spiteful and malevolent as to seem almost inhuman. His main intent is to destroy his brother George. In this section of the novel, the reasons for his behaviour are unclear, making him a truly terrifying presence.
Robert begins by stalking George through Edinburgh and making mocking remarks. Robert’s interference with his brother’s activities leads to confusion and bloody brawls in the streets. George is alarmed to discover that his stalker has the uncanny ability to follow him everywhere he goes. Even when attempting to find solace in the quiet countryside, George sees a terrifying vision of his evil brother in the sky and turns to find him lurking behind him, preparing to throw him off a cliff. Even though George tries to reach out to his brother, Robert literally kicks the hand offered in way of friendship.
Finally, George is murdered, stabbed in the back, apparently during a duel with one of his drinking buddies. The only witness to the murder is a prostitute, who claims that the culprit was Robert, aided by what appears to be the double of one of George’s friends. Before Robert can be apprehended by the law, he disappears and many puzzling details are left unexplained.
The subsequent confession of Robert is the most fascinating part of the novel as it takes us deep inside his deranged mind. After the distanced rendering of his character during the first section, Robert is revealed to be strangely delusional and naive. From earliest childhood, he is predisposed to be bad, having every manner of ill trait, from jealousy, to lying, to arrogance. He engages in petty schoolroom crimes and blames them on others.
Eventually, Robert is joined by an enigmatic companion who says his name is Gil-Martin. This intelligent and compelling stranger soon directs all of Robert’s pre-existing tendencies and fanatical beliefs to extraordinarily evil purposes, convincing him that it is his mission to “cut sinners off with the sword.”
Able to morph into anyone, Gil-Martin is one of the first examples of a doppelganger in literature. He transforms into many other characters, including Robert himself, thereby enabling him to commit murders with impunity. Thus, Robert has unwittingly entered into a Faustian compact, exchanging everything for short-lived power.
The confession traces his gradual breakdown into despair and madness, as Robert’s doubts about the righteousness of his cause are counteracted by the diabolical Gil-Martin’s increasing domination over his life. Finally, Robert loses control over his own identity and even loses track of time. During these lost weeks and months, it is possible that Gil-Martin assumes Robert’s appearance in order to commit further crimes... Or perhaps Robert commits the crimes himself and blocks out the memory... It is up to the reader to decide.
. The structure thus is of a single, self-contained publication offering a historically contextualised story, but the effect is unsettling. When taken together, the different elements create a strong impression of ambivalence and inconsistency, as if they have been silently arranged with a deliberate intention to present the reader with a conundrum
. Because Hogg's novel appears to test
concepts of internal validity
, historical truth
or a single rational world-view, contemporary critics sometimes regard it as an early anticipation of ideas associated with postmodernism
.
The Confession (which comprises the middle section of the novel) is an autobiographical account of the life of Robert Wringhim and, passim, his statement
on the crimes with which his name was associated. The document is ultimately revealed to be the sole remaining printed copy of a first edition of his manuscript (all of which is otherwise destroyed) that had been intended for publication. The account is in two parts: the first is the retrospective printed narrative itself up to the date when its author was setting the first edition of the "completed" True Confession; the second is its immediate continuation, as entries "in real time" on the actual remaining document, describing terrifying events during (as we may believe) his last days on earth.
The Editor's Narrative "introduces" this memoir with "factual" descriptions "from local tradition" of events associated with Wringhim up to the murder of his estranged brother, George Colwan. This Editor's Narrative later resumes at the end of the novel as a post-script appending further details that supposedly comment on the text. This includes the transcript of an "authentic letter" published in Blackwoods Magazine "for August 1823" by a certain James Hogg. The ending finally places the novel in the present time of the reader by relating the mystery of a suicide's grave, the exhumation of its remains and (only on the very last pages) the "recovery" of the manuscript. In effect, this post-script reveals what a real "editor" may more properly have set at the beginning, and casts it as the "conclusion".
Discounting any transcendental inferences, there are two material time-frames in the novel, both of which can be specifically dated. The events of the memoir are set in a carefully identifiable period of Scottish history between the late 17th century and early 18th century. (The first date on the opening page is the year 1687.) The editor's narrative is even more concretely dated and situated in actual present time, external to the novel, through the device of the letter by Hogg included by the fictional editor (which was in fact published in Blackwood's Magazine as described). Hogg's brief cameo
role in the final pages of the novel is effectively his "signature
" appended to the otherwise anonymous original publication.
. Calvinists also argue the doctrine of irresistible grace
, which says that if God has elected to save someone, he will overpower all of that person's resistance, resulting in that person's repentance and consequent salvation. However, proponents of Calvinist theology would argue that even with the Five points of Calvinism, a genuinely converted person is easily recognisable and the protagonist shows no signs of having been born again, pointing to biblical passages, such as Matthew 7:16, where Jesus says during the Sermon on the Mount
that people will know each other by their fruits and James 2:20, which says that faith is dead unless good works come as a consequence thereof. This is discussed by Dr. Peter Masters, the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle
in Elephant and Castle
, London
, a calvinistic church, in the book Seven Certain Signs of True Conversionhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/SEVEN-CERTAIN-SIGNS-TRUE-CONVERSION/dp/1899046054, where he outlines how a person who is born again will differ from someone who isn't.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
that was written by the Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
author James Hogg
James Hogg
James Hogg was a Scottish poet and novelist who wrote in both Scots and English.-Early life:James Hogg was born in a small farm near Ettrick, Scotland in 1770 and was baptized there on 9 December, his actual date of birth having never been recorded...
and published anonymously (although his reputation was well established) in 1824.
Considered by turns part-gothic novel
Gothic fiction
Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...
, part-psychological mystery
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
, part-curio
Cabinet of curiosities
A cabinet of curiosities was an encyclopedic collection in Renaissance Europe of types of objects whose categorical boundaries were yet to be defined. They were also known by various names such as Cabinet of Wonder, and in German Kunstkammer or Wunderkammer...
, part-metafiction
Metafiction
Metafiction, also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion...
, part-satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
, part-case study of totalitarian thought
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
, it can also be thought of as an early example of modern crime fiction
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
in which the story is told, for the most part, from the point of view of its criminal anti-hero
Anti-hero
In fiction, an antihero is generally considered to be a protagonist whose character is at least in some regards conspicuously contrary to that of the archetypal hero, and is in some instances its antithesis in which the character is generally useless at being a hero or heroine when they're...
. The action of the novel is located in a historically definable Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
with scientifically observed settings, and simultaneously infers a pseudo-Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
world of angels, devils, and demonic possession
Demonic possession
Demonic possession is held by many belief systems to be the control of an individual by a malevolent supernatural being. Descriptions of demonic possessions often include erased memories or personalities, convulsions, “fits” and fainting as if one were dying...
.
After its publication, the novel suffered from a period of critical neglect, especially in the nineteenth century, but since the latter part of the twentieth century has won greater critical interest and attention, perhaps most especially as a study of religious fanaticism
Religious fanaticism
Religious fanaticism is fanaticism related to a person's, or a group's, devotion to a religion. However, religious fanaticism is a subjective evaluation defined by the culture context that is performing the evaluation. What constitutes fanaticism in another's behavior or belief is determined by the...
through its deeply critical portrait of the Calvinist concept of predestination
Predestination
Predestination, in theology is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. John Calvin interpreted biblical predestination to mean that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others...
. It is written in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, with some sections of Scots
Scots language
Scots is the Germanic language variety spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster . It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Celtic language variety spoken in most of the western Highlands and in the Hebrides.Since there are no universally accepted...
that appear in dialogue.
Plot
Justified Sinner at its simplest contains the memoirMemoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
of a young man, Robert Wringhim (or Wringham), who encounters a shape-shifting figure only ever identified as "Gil-Martin". This urbanely mephistophelian
Mephistopheles
Mephistopheles is a demon featured in German folklore...
visitation — an early instance of the doppelganger
Doppelgänger
In fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger is a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune...
in fiction — appears after Robert is declared by his "adopted" father to be one of the elect
Predestination
Predestination, in theology is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. John Calvin interpreted biblical predestination to mean that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others...
, and therefore a "soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
" predestined to attain salvation
Salvation
Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
. Although this invests Wringhim with a sense of infallible moral justification, he is at the same time tortured with self-doubt
Doubt
Doubt, a status between belief and disbelief, involves uncertainty or distrust or lack of sureness of an alleged fact, an action, a motive, or a decision. Doubt brings into question some notion of a perceived "reality", and may involve delaying or rejecting relevant action out of concerns for...
. Ostensibly co-erced by Gil-Martin (who the reader clearly sees exploiting these two mental states) Wringhim is led to commit a long series of offences, including multiple murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
s.
Wringhim's own account of the dark counsel of his visiting angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
forces questions regarding how self-aware he may in fact be. But the novel's dilemmas are not merely psychological; as the narrative progresses, the material relation between Wringhim and Gil-Martin, and between Gil-Martin and the historical events of the story itself, become increasingly problematised.
The novel opens with the unhappy marriage of Rabina Orde with George Colwan, the Laird of Dalcastle. This event has repercussions throughout the book, setting the scene for conflicts to come. Rabina is a prudish bigot who disapproves of her new husband because he dances and drinks alcohol. The couple soon separates. However, Rabina Colwan gives birth to two children. The first, George, is the son of the Laird of Dalcastle, but the second, Robert, is most likely the son of the Reverend Wringhim, Rabina’s spiritual advisor who lives with her.
The two brothers live apart and never interact until the main events of the novel take place. George, raised by the Laird of Dalcastle, becomes a friendly, typical young man who enjoys sports and socializing with his friends. Robert, educated by his mother and adoptive father Reverend Wringhim, is quite the opposite, priggish, malicious, and conceited. He is indoctrinated into Reverend Wringhim’s radical sect of Calvinism, which holds that only certain elect people are predestined to be saved by God. According to these extremists, these chosen few will have a heavenly reward regardless of how their lives are lived. Everyone else will be damned. Robert Wringhim takes this already extreme belief to the furthest boundaries of wickedness, using it to justify a degenerate life of crime.
In the first part of the novel, Robert Wringhim appears as a force so spiteful and malevolent as to seem almost inhuman. His main intent is to destroy his brother George. In this section of the novel, the reasons for his behaviour are unclear, making him a truly terrifying presence.
Robert begins by stalking George through Edinburgh and making mocking remarks. Robert’s interference with his brother’s activities leads to confusion and bloody brawls in the streets. George is alarmed to discover that his stalker has the uncanny ability to follow him everywhere he goes. Even when attempting to find solace in the quiet countryside, George sees a terrifying vision of his evil brother in the sky and turns to find him lurking behind him, preparing to throw him off a cliff. Even though George tries to reach out to his brother, Robert literally kicks the hand offered in way of friendship.
Finally, George is murdered, stabbed in the back, apparently during a duel with one of his drinking buddies. The only witness to the murder is a prostitute, who claims that the culprit was Robert, aided by what appears to be the double of one of George’s friends. Before Robert can be apprehended by the law, he disappears and many puzzling details are left unexplained.
The subsequent confession of Robert is the most fascinating part of the novel as it takes us deep inside his deranged mind. After the distanced rendering of his character during the first section, Robert is revealed to be strangely delusional and naive. From earliest childhood, he is predisposed to be bad, having every manner of ill trait, from jealousy, to lying, to arrogance. He engages in petty schoolroom crimes and blames them on others.
Eventually, Robert is joined by an enigmatic companion who says his name is Gil-Martin. This intelligent and compelling stranger soon directs all of Robert’s pre-existing tendencies and fanatical beliefs to extraordinarily evil purposes, convincing him that it is his mission to “cut sinners off with the sword.”
Able to morph into anyone, Gil-Martin is one of the first examples of a doppelganger in literature. He transforms into many other characters, including Robert himself, thereby enabling him to commit murders with impunity. Thus, Robert has unwittingly entered into a Faustian compact, exchanging everything for short-lived power.
The confession traces his gradual breakdown into despair and madness, as Robert’s doubts about the righteousness of his cause are counteracted by the diabolical Gil-Martin’s increasing domination over his life. Finally, Robert loses control over his own identity and even loses track of time. During these lost weeks and months, it is possible that Gil-Martin assumes Robert’s appearance in order to commit further crimes... Or perhaps Robert commits the crimes himself and blocks out the memory... It is up to the reader to decide.
Structure
The Private Memoirs and Confessions was published as if it were the presentation of a found document from the previous century offered to the public with a long introduction by its un-named editorEditor
The term editor may refer to:As a person who does editing:* Editor in chief, having final responsibility for a publication's operations and policies* Copy editing, making formatting changes and other improvements to text...
. The structure thus is of a single, self-contained publication offering a historically contextualised story, but the effect is unsettling. When taken together, the different elements create a strong impression of ambivalence and inconsistency, as if they have been silently arranged with a deliberate intention to present the reader with a conundrum
Conundrum
Conundrum may refer to:* A riddle whose answer is or involves a pun or unexpected twist* A logical postulation that evades resolution, an intricate and difficult problem- Literature :...
. Because Hogg's novel appears to test
Experiment
An experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
concepts of internal validity
Internal validity
Internal validity is the validity of inferences in scientific studies, usually based on experiments as experimental validity.- Details :...
, historical truth
Truth
Truth has a variety of meanings, such as the state of being in accord with fact or reality. It can also mean having fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. In a common usage, it also means constancy or sincerity in action or character...
or a single rational world-view, contemporary critics sometimes regard it as an early anticipation of ideas associated with postmodernism
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
.
The Confession (which comprises the middle section of the novel) is an autobiographical account of the life of Robert Wringhim and, passim, his statement
Testimony
In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. All testimonies should be well thought out and truthful. It was the custom in Ancient Rome for the men to place their right hand on a Bible when taking an oath...
on the crimes with which his name was associated. The document is ultimately revealed to be the sole remaining printed copy of a first edition of his manuscript (all of which is otherwise destroyed) that had been intended for publication. The account is in two parts: the first is the retrospective printed narrative itself up to the date when its author was setting the first edition of the "completed" True Confession; the second is its immediate continuation, as entries "in real time" on the actual remaining document, describing terrifying events during (as we may believe) his last days on earth.
The Editor's Narrative "introduces" this memoir with "factual" descriptions "from local tradition" of events associated with Wringhim up to the murder of his estranged brother, George Colwan. This Editor's Narrative later resumes at the end of the novel as a post-script appending further details that supposedly comment on the text. This includes the transcript of an "authentic letter" published in Blackwoods Magazine "for August 1823" by a certain James Hogg. The ending finally places the novel in the present time of the reader by relating the mystery of a suicide's grave, the exhumation of its remains and (only on the very last pages) the "recovery" of the manuscript. In effect, this post-script reveals what a real "editor" may more properly have set at the beginning, and casts it as the "conclusion".
Discounting any transcendental inferences, there are two material time-frames in the novel, both of which can be specifically dated. The events of the memoir are set in a carefully identifiable period of Scottish history between the late 17th century and early 18th century. (The first date on the opening page is the year 1687.) The editor's narrative is even more concretely dated and situated in actual present time, external to the novel, through the device of the letter by Hogg included by the fictional editor (which was in fact published in Blackwood's Magazine as described). Hogg's brief cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
role in the final pages of the novel is effectively his "signature
Signature
A signature is a handwritten depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a signature is a signatory. Similar to a handwritten signature, a signature work describes the work as readily identifying...
" appended to the otherwise anonymous original publication.
Influence
- The novel has been cited as an inspiration for Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr HydeThe Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr HydeStrange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is the original title of a novella written by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson that was first published in 1886. The original pronunciation of Jekyll was "Jeekul" which was the pronunciation used in Stevenson's native Scotland...
, examining the duality of good and evil.
- The Scottish film maker Bill DouglasBill DouglasWilliam Gerald Forbes Douglas was a Scottish film director best known for the trilogy of films about his early life.-Biography:...
(d.1991) left a screenplay treatment of the novel that has, as yet, not been filmed.
- The novel "GilchristGilchristGilchrist is a surname of Scottish origin, having originated in Islay. According to several genealogy websites, it literally means "servant of Christ." Some variations known to exist are Gillecrist, Gilcreest, Gilcrest, Gilchrest and Gilcress.Gilchrist may refer to:* Adam Gilchrist, Australian...
" (1995) by Maurice LeitchMaurice LeitchMaurice Leitch is a renowned author, born in Northern Ireland. He is author of The Liberty Lad, Poor Lazarus, Silver's City, and many other works. In 1969, he moved to London to become a producer in the BBC's radio drama department...
is a reworking of Confessions in a contemporary Northern Ireland setting, with a central character loosely based on Ian PaisleyIan PaisleyIan Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...
.
- James HynesJames HynesJames Hynes is an American novelist. He was born in Okemos, Michigan, and grew up in Big Rapids, Michigan. He lived for many years in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and currently resides in Austin, Texas, where he has taught creative writing at the University of Texas...
' gothic horror novel, The Lecturer's Tale, features a Hogg scholar whose intention to write his dissertation on guilt and predestination in Justified Sinner, is deflected into writing on the more fashionable ConradJoseph ConradJoseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
.
- In James RobertsonJames Robertson (novelist)James Robertson is a Scottish writer who grew up in Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire. He is the author of several short story and poetry collections, and has published three novels: The Fanatic, Joseph Knight, The Testament of Gideon Mack, and And the Land Lay Still. The Testament of Gideon Mack was...
's novel "The Testament of Gideon MackThe Testament Of Gideon MackThe Testament of Gideon Mack is a novel written by the Scottish author James Robertson, first published in 2006. It pays conscious homage to ideas and themes originally explored with powerful effect in the novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by the Scottish novelist,...
", the protagonist Gideon Mack, a minister of the Scottish kirk, comes across a copy of a book on elves, fauns and fairies in his father's study. Gideon learns that the book was signed for his father by one "G.M.". Like the anti-hero of Hogg's novel, Gideon claims to have had an encounter with the Devil and begins to think that his father has met him as well. He suggests that "G.M." might be short for "Gil Martin" (p. 355).
- Eve Sedgwick, in her book Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire, views Robert Wringhim's character as failing to successfully negotiate the demands of the configuration of male homosocial desire existing in his society by being too manifest in his desire for other men.
- BoucherAnthony BoucherAnthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
and McComasJ. Francis McComasJesse Francis McComas was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe....
described the 1949 edition as a "forgotten classic," praising "this terrifying picture of the devil's subtle conquest of a self-righteous man" as "a masterpiece of the supernatural."
- "The Bad Sister" by Emma TennantEmma TennantEmma Christina Tennant FRSL is a British novelist and editor. She is known for a postmodern approach to her fiction, which is often imbued with fantasy or magic. Several of her novels give a feminist or dreamlike twist to classic stories, such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr....
is a modern-day version of Hogg's novel with a female protagonist.
Portrayal of Calvinist theology
Many proponents of Calvinist theology argue that James Hogg was lacking in his understanding of Calvinism. It is true that Calvinists believe that once a person reaches a state which fulfils the conditions for salvation (i.e. once someone has experienced true conversion), they cannot subsequently fall from this state ("once saved, always saved"). This doctrine of Calvinist theology is known as the perseverance of the saintsPerseverance of the saints
Perseverance of the saints, as well as the corollary—though distinct—doctrine known as "Once Saved, Always Saved", is a Calvinist teaching that once persons are truly saved they can never lose their salvation....
. Calvinists also argue the doctrine of irresistible grace
Irresistible grace
Irresistible Grace is a doctrine in Christian theology particularly associated with Calvinism, which teaches that the saving grace of God is effectually applied to those whom he has determined to save and, in God's timing, overcomes their resistance to obeying the call of the gospel, bringing...
, which says that if God has elected to save someone, he will overpower all of that person's resistance, resulting in that person's repentance and consequent salvation. However, proponents of Calvinist theology would argue that even with the Five points of Calvinism, a genuinely converted person is easily recognisable and the protagonist shows no signs of having been born again, pointing to biblical passages, such as Matthew 7:16, where Jesus says during the Sermon on the Mount
Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...
that people will know each other by their fruits and James 2:20, which says that faith is dead unless good works come as a consequence thereof. This is discussed by Dr. Peter Masters, the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle
Metropolitan Tabernacle
The Metropolitan Tabernacle is a large Reformed Baptist church in the Elephant and Castle in London. It was the largest non-conformist church edifice of its day in 1861. The Tabernacle Fellowship have been worshipping together since 1650, soon after the sailing of the Pilgrim Fathers...
in Elephant and Castle
Elephant and Castle
The Elephant and Castle is a major road intersection in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is also used as a name for the surrounding area....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, a calvinistic church, in the book Seven Certain Signs of True Conversionhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/SEVEN-CERTAIN-SIGNS-TRUE-CONVERSION/dp/1899046054, where he outlines how a person who is born again will differ from someone who isn't.
Theatrical Productions
- 2009 dramatisation of the novel starring Iain RobertsonIain RobertsonIain Robertson is a BAFTA winning Scottish actor. He was once described by Barry Norman as "the best thing to come out of Scotland since whisky"....
and Ryan FletcherRyan FletcherRyan Fletcher, 27, is a Scottish actor.Fletcher grew up in Blantyre. He was in the hit theatre show "Black Watch" for the "National Theatre of Scotland" and has appeared in 'River City', 'Taggart' and more recently 'Limmy's Show'. He has worked nationally and internationally in Film T.V and...
produced by the Royal Lyceum TheatreRoyal Lyceum TheatreThe Royal Lyceum Theatre is a 658 seat theatre in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, named after the Theatre Royal Lyceum and English Opera House, the residence at the time of legendary Shakespearean actor Henry Irving. It was built in 1883 by architect C. J. Phipps at a cost of UK£17,000 on behalf...
, EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
Film
- 1985 PolishPolish languagePolish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
film adaptation by director Wojciech Jerzy Has, Osobisty pamiętnik grzesznika... przez niego samego spisany, (English title: Memoirs of a Sinner)
- Scottish crime writer Ian RankinIan RankinIan Rankin, OBE, DL , is a Scottish crime writer. His best known books are the Inspector Rebus novels. He has also written several pieces of literary criticism.-Background:He attended Beath High School, Cowdenbeath...
, creator of the famous Inspector RebusInspector RebusThe Inspector Rebus books are a series of detective novels by the Scottish author Ian Rankin. The novels, centred on the title character Detective Inspector John Rebus, are mostly based in and around Edinburgh.-Content and style:...
novels, has written a script for a film based on James Hogg's Memoirs and Confessions. According to his website, his team are 'still on the hunt for the right director.'
External links
- The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, at Project Gutenberg.
- Review of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, by Louise Norlie.
- Ian RankinIan RankinIan Rankin, OBE, DL , is a Scottish crime writer. His best known books are the Inspector Rebus novels. He has also written several pieces of literary criticism.-Background:He attended Beath High School, Cowdenbeath...
's Introduction to 2007 edition