James Hogg was a surprise for me. In the opening chapters I was quite unsure whether to treat the book as a serious work or a comic one. Hogg has tried to hold in ridicule a few social stigmas that must have plagued his times. A few of them still plague ours. The way the author has gone about it though is very unique. As the title suggests, the book is the memoirs of a "justified sinner". It talks about how one justifies his sins. How one makes a world in which he can live with himself after enacting monstrosities. There are two parts to it. The editor of the notes giving a background and his perspective, and the memoirs themselves.
The book begins with the editor telling us of a Scottish folklore about a certain laird of a certain Dalcastle who married a deeply religious woman. This woman mothered two sons, one to the laird and the other allegedly to her preacher. This bastard son, Robert, is the author of the memoirs. He is brought up in a gravely religious household and develops a fanatic view of Christianity. He reads into the scriptures to further his own interests even as a child. He sins, is aware of his sins and can justify his sins. He then encounters the devil, whom he takes to be a holy prince of another land. Together they commit murders and crimes in the name of religion. Robert is finally driven to despair by his supernatural friend and lives a life of anguish.
The book was extremely entertaining in bits. Especially because of the double meaning puns that are scattered all over the two narratives. But in parts it was a little drag and uninteresting. As of now, I have no intentions of looking at other works of this author.
