The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner -

James Hogg

Oxford University Press

2010

288 páginas

9h 36m

ISBN-13: 9780199217953

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. 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. The memoirs are presented by a narrator whose attempts to explain the story only succeed in intensifying its more baffling and bizarre aspects. 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. Copious notes identify the novel's historical, biblical, theological, and literary allusions.

Resenhas (1)

2 (Razoável)

Not the book's fault

My two-star evaluation has nothing to do with the quality of this literature. It certainly is related to some of its aspects - one of them being the fact that the narrative has no break for chapters or nothing of the sort: it just simply flows from page one till the last one - but I can't say it's badly written or anything. The thing is I never really connected to the story and it took me a long time to complete the reading. Whatever connection or identification that was expected to be had was lost completely. I had to be more immersed in it to enjoy what I read, and that just didn't happen.