The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

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The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner was published by the Scottish author James Hogg in 1824. A classic gothic tale of good vs. evil set in a pseudo-Christian world of angels, devils, and demonic possession, this novel is on the rise in academic circles and has received wide acclaim for its probing quest into the nature of religious fanaticism and Calvinist predestination. Its use of conflicting accounts of events and questioning of a single truth about historical events or single rational world view has lead some critics to see it as anticipating ideas associated with postmodernism.

On the surface of this novel is a simple tale of a man meeting the devil and the various misadventures that subsequently follow.

The "Devil", known only to the reader and Robert Wringham himself as Gil-Martin appears to Robert after being told that he is one of the Just; a group of people who will go to heaven when they die no matter what. Based on this assumption, Wringham is coerced by Gil-Martin into murdering those whom the latter deems appropriate.

The story is told by two different narrators, who contradict each other and offer their own explanations for everything that has happened. The two narratives revolve around a murder of Robert's estranged brother, George Colwan. Each progressive narrative reveals more about the story of the murder and the circumstances surrounding it.

The novel has been cited as an inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, which examines the duality of good and evil.

Eve Sedgwick, in her book Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire, views Robert Wringham's character as failing to successfully negotiate the demands of the configuration of male homosocial desire existing in his society, by being too manifest in his desire for other men.