James Hogg and The Ettrick Shepherd

IN 1947 JAMES HOGG'S NOVEL The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner was republished with an enthusiastic introduction by André Gide. Gide wrote that he had read the novel ‘with a stupefaction and admiration that increased at every page’, but nevertheless he was unable to find a cultured Englishman, American or Frenchman who had read the book or knew anything about its author. Since 1947 Hogg's novel has won a high reputation, a reputation which has been further enhanced by its recent publication in the Oxford English Novels series.