James Hogg
(born 1770 - died 1835) - Ettrick Valley, Scottish Borders
Born in 1770 in the Ettrick Valley in the Scottish Borders, James Hogg came from an unlikely literary background. (He is sometimes referred to as 'The Ettrick Shepherd'.) Yet his best-known work, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, published in 1824, is judged by many to be one of the greatest Scottish novels ever written, and one of the most famous men of the time, Romantic poet William Wordsworth, published a poem on hearing of his death in 1835.
Hogg’s father was a sheep-farmer and his son followed him into that calling after his schooling was cut short. He read widely however and began writing poetry, contributing some ballads to Sir Walter Scott’s Border Minstrelsy collection. There is no doubt Hogg’s connections with Scott helped him to reach a wider audience and granted him an entry into the literary world of writers and publishers.
James Hogg married in 1821 and the marriage produced five children. He did not give up on his farming background, dividing his time between Edinburgh and the Borders, but his farm was not financially successful, leading him to financial difficulties and bankruptcy. He died in 1835.
Edinburgh University Press are publishing the Collected Works of James Hogg, edited by Douglas Mack and Gillian Hughes.
Key Titles
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Add to BasketThe Collected Letters Of James Hogg - Paperback
£49.00
James Hogg was a prolific writer of letters, and this compilation features his correspondence with the likes of Scott, Byron and Southey. It also includes some of the tender, if idiosyncratic, love letters he wrote to the Dumfriesshire girl he married at the mature age of 49 years old. -
Add to BasketThe Private Memoirs And Confessions Of A Justified Sinner - Paperback
£5.99
Against a background of historical realism, this story tells of the degradation of a pious young man who uses the Calvinist doctrine of predestination to justify the murder of his brother. -
Add to BasketThe Queen's Wake: A Legendary Tale - Paperback
£11.99
'The Queen's Wake' is one of the landmarks of British Romantic poetry. It focuses on the return of Mary, Queen of Scots to Scotland in 1561 to take personal rule of her kingdom after years in France. The text presents both the first and fifth editions of the poem to allow the reader to compare the two. -
Add to BasketThe Three Perils Of Man: War, Women And Witchcraft - Paperback
£7.99
Ranging from Galloway to Northumberland, the main focus of this classic work of fiction is in the Scottish Borders. Hogg knew and loved the Borders, and his book is full of their oral tradition and local lore.
Bibliography
- The Queen's Wake: A Legendary Tale
- The Three Perils of Man: War, Women and Witchcraft
- The Three Perils of Women
- The Shepherd's Calendar
- The Brownie of Brodbeck
Books about James Hogg
- Electric Shepherd: A Likeness of James Hogg by Karl Miller
- Studies in Hogg and His World: a periodical
- Scotsnotes: Private Memoirs and Confessions
- James Hogg: A Life by Gillian Hughes
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Add to BasketElectric Shepherd: A Likeness Of James Hogg - Paperback -
£12.99
This is a biography of one of Scotland's most unusual literary figures. With no schooling after the age of seven, James Hogg struggled to write and taught himself the violin. Yet he went on to number such literary giants as Wordsworth and Walter Scott among his friends, and to become a poet and novelist. -
Add to BasketJames Hogg: A Life - Hardback -
£25.00
James Hogg's life-story is one of extraordinary transitions. In his own lifetime he was best-known as a heaven-inspired but naive Scottish rustic whose intelligence went largely unacknowledged by his contemporaries. -
Add to BasketJames Hogg's The Private Memoirs And Confessions Of A Justified Siner - Paperback -
£4.50
The Scotnotes booklets are a series of study guides to major Scottish writers and literary texts aimed at senior pupils in secondary schools and students in tertiary education. The author of each booklet is an authority on the writer or text as well as having experience in teaching at the relevant levels.