Description: Winter Evening Tales (1820; second edition 1821) was James Hogg's most successful work of prose fiction in his lifetime. Exhibiting the most complex genesis of any of Hogg's works, it is the outstanding example of a 'national' genre pioneered by him - the miscellaneous collection of popular and traditional narratives. Hogg's experimental medley of novellas, tales, poems and sketches posed a lively alternative to the dominant form of the historical novel established by Walter Scott. The collection includes terse masterpieces of mystery and the uncanny, virtuoso improvisations on folktale themes, and - the highlights of the edition - two brilliant autobiographical novellas, The Renowned Adventures of Basil Lee and Love Adventures of Mr George Cochrane.Reprinted in incomplete and unreliable texts in Victorian editions of Hogg's works, Winter Evening Tales fell into almost total obscurity after the author's death. The Stirling/ South Carolina Edition of the Collected Works of James Hogg is delighted to republish this key work in Hogg's career in its entirety for the first time since the early nineteenth century.
Brief description: James Hogg was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots and English. He is best known for his novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner.
Review Quotes: Hogg must be the most unavailable of the major Scottish writers in the first half of the nineteenth century. The new edition, therefore, performs a crucial function. Moreover Winter Evening Tales is going to be one of the most desirable volumes, on grounds of sheer readability and aesthetic merit. For students of Hogg, of Scottish literature, of romanticism, and of the tale collection as a form, it counts as "essential reading".--Professor Richard Maxwell, Valparaiso University