• One of the supreme masterpieces of Romantic fiction and Scottish literature, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner is a terrifying account of murder and amorality, and one man's descent into madness and despair.
• The authoritative and lively introduction covers the full range of historical and religious themes and contexts and a fuller and more accurate consideration of the novel's relation to Romantic fiction than can be found elsewhere, as well as original discussion of the novel's treatment of fanaticism.
• The notes identify the full range of the novel's historical, biblical, theological, topographical and literary allusions, and are both concise and fuller than in any other competing edition at this level.
• Complete and up-to-date bibliography includes recent developments in Hogg scholarship.
• Full glossary.

New to this Edition:

• Introduction by Ian Duncan.
• Updated and expanded Select Bibliography.
• Revised Note on the Text,Chronology, and Glossary.
• Entirely new and much fuller Explanatory Notes.
• Reset text of the novel, checked against 1824 copy text and correcting previous errors.

   
'We have heard much of the rage of fanaticism in former days, but nothing to this'
    
A wretched young man, 'an outcast in the world', tells the story of his upbringing by a heretical Calvinist minister who leads him to believe that he is one of the elect, predestined for salvation and thus above the moral law. Falling under the spell of a mysterious stranger who bears an uncanny likeness to himself, he embarks on a career as a serial murderer. 
   
Robert Wringhim's Memoirs are presented by an editor whose attempts to explain the story only succeed in intensifying its more baffling and bizarre aspects. Is Wringhim the victim of a psychotic delusion, or has he been tempted by the devil to wage war against God's enemies? Hogg's sardonic and terrifying novel, too perverse for nineteenth-century taste, is now recognized as one of the masterpieces of Romantic fiction.
    
The first edition text of 1824 has been freshly considered for this new edition. A critical introduction explores the remarkable career of the novel's author and its historical, theological, and cultural contexts.