Hogg, James

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Hogg, James (1772–1835). Poet and novelist. ‘The Ettrick Shepherd’ had a long career as a minor poet and novelist before publishing anonymously an extraordinary masterpiece. The Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824) dealt with psychological disorder and antinomian presbyterianism with a disturbing realism which has its roots in the psychology of the Scottish Enlightenment. Largely self-educated, Hogg acquired a taste for the vernacular culture of the borders and began to see himself as a new Burns. His early verse attracted Scott and gave rise to a complicated but enduring friendship which taxed them both. He made his way in Edinburgh as a literary journalist and as a historical poet, The Queen's Wake (1813) being much admired. His historical novels ape Scott's but are now attracting scholarly attention. A man with a highly developed taste for self-dramatization, he cultivated the role of the professional Scot in his popular contributions to the Tory Blackwood's Magazine.

Nicholas Phillipson

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James Hogg

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