Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Copious notes identify the novel's historical, biblical, theological, and literary allusions. His most famous book, The Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824), is striking in its use of Calvinist doctrine, demonology, and a highly modern psychological perception to tell the story of the. Is the young man the victim of a psychotic delusion, or has he been tempted by the devil to wage war against God's enemies? The authoritative and lively introduction by Ian Duncan covers the full range of historical and religious themes and contexts, offers a richer and more accurate consideration of the novel's relation to Romantic fiction than found elsewhere, and sheds new light on the novel's treatment of fanaticism. The memoirs are presented by a narrator whose attempts to explain the story only succeed in intensifying its more baffling and bizarre aspects. James Hogg's sardonic novel follows a young man who, falling under the spell of a mysterious stranger who bears an uncanny likeness to himself, embarks on a career as a serial murderer. 'It may be, sir but I ken this -an I had been the laird, I wadna hae ta'en that story in.One of the supreme masterpieces of Romantic fiction and Scottish literature, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner is a terrifying tale of murder and amorality, and of one man's descent into madness and despair. 'I have known a lady, John, who was delivered of a blackamoor child, merely from the circumstance of having got a start by the sudden entrance of her negro servant, and not being able to forget him for several hours.' THE EDITORS NARRATIVE It appears from tradition, as well as some parish registers still extant, that the lands of Dalcastle (or Dalchastel, as it is often spelled) were possessed by a family of the name of Colwan, about one hundred and fifty years ago, and for at least a century previous to that period. They depend much on the thoughts and affections of the mother and, it is probable, that the mother of this boy, being deserted by her worthless husband, having turned her thoughts on me, as likely to be her protector, may have caused this striking resemblance.'

'But, John, there are many natural reasons for such likenesses, besides that of consanguinity. 'I hae said mony a time, that he resembled you, sir. Confessions of a justified sinner by Hogg, James, 1770-1835. 'But did you ever say to any one, that he resembled me, and fathered himself well enough?' 'Ye canna hinder me to think whatever I like, sir, nor can I hinder mysel.' Tell me, dare you say, or dare you think, that I am the natural father of that boy?'

The confessions of a justified sinner