Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (Oxford University Press)

'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 aby 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 żeby 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 żeby 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.ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe.

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