The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (Oxford World's Classics (Paperback))

Rating:
Summary: A Scottish Psycho
Review: Another faustian tale from the turn of the nineteenth century, Confessions forms an interesting contrast with other works in the same vein, like The Monk of Matthew Lewis. The dualities of this novel go to extremes, with shadows of the shadows, but is richer in psychological insight than it is in critical morality.

The first part of the novel sets the stage with an account of the tale from an objective and social view. Minor characters give their own perspective of the action, without dominating it into subjectivity. "Here's what happened, or at least how it seemed to the good folk who saw it happening."

The second part, the actual confessions, is where the story becomes interesting - a first person account of a psychotic murderer, justifying his actions every step of the way. He walks us through the crimes with clear rationality, keenly sensible if we accept his misguided premises. The key to the illness reading, for me, came from his bafflement at the crimes committed where he was completely unconscious of what he was doing. This is no Faust, trading his soul for power. This is a man who has simply lost control of his reason. Reading the novel as a morality play reduces the impact - damn, that devil sure is a bad fellow. Reading it as a case study, a peek into the thoughts of a man who has genuinely lost his mind and personified his illness into an evil, immoral, silver-tongued changeling, makes Confessions a fascinating piece of work.

My only complaint was the phonetic brogue which makes some small portions of the prose almost unreadable.

Rating:
Summary: A Scottish Psycho
Review: Another faustian tale from the turn of the nineteenth century, Confessions forms an interesting contrast with other works in the same vein, like The Monk of Matthew Lewis. The dualities of this novel go to extremes, with shadows of the shadows, but is richer in psychological insight than it is in critical morality.

The first part of the novel sets the stage with an account of the tale from an objective and social view. Minor characters give their own perspective of the action, without dominating it into subjectivity. "Here's what happened, or at least how it seemed to the good folk who saw it happening."

The second part, the actual confessions, is where the story becomes interesting - a first person account of a psychotic murderer, justifying his actions every step of the way. He walks us through the crimes with clear rationality, keenly sensible if we accept his misguided premises. The key to the illness reading, for me, came from his bafflement at the crimes committed where he was completely unconscious of what he was doing. This is no Faust, trading his soul for power. This is a man who has simply lost control of his reason. Reading the novel as a morality play reduces the impact - damn, that devil sure is a bad fellow. Reading it as a case study, a peek into the thoughts of a man who has genuinely lost his mind and personified his illness into an evil, immoral, silver-tongued changeling, makes Confessions a fascinating piece of work.

My only complaint was the phonetic brogue which makes some small portions of the prose almost unreadable.

Rating:
Summary: a chilling tale of fantacism
Review: Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified sinner is the story of the illigitamate son of a Scottish laird who is convinced by the devil to act on his own spite and rage and commit murder -- but Hogg adds a clever twist (I don't want to spoil anything by saying what it is) that leaves the reader wondering...

One of the great things about this book is that its serious subject matter is balanced by a dose of humor -- I was surprised to find myself giggling through the first fifty pages which tell of the laird's marriage to a reluctantly religious woman.

This is a must-read for anyone interested in nineteenth-century fantasy, but its detailing of the making of a fanatic is still hauntingly relevent today...

Rating:
Summary: None better
Review: The depth of this novel is amazing. Visit Edinburgh on a misty night and you will see it is not set in the past.