The Three Perils of Man

By James Hogg

1822

First Published

4.18

Average Rating

423

Number of Pages

12H55M

Audio Length

The Three Perils of Man is regarded as Hogg's most ambitious work of fiction. The book's extraordinary combination of the fantastic, the funny, the serious, and the historically realistic must be unique in literature. The adventures of its characters, told with the author's characteristically bold simplicity, are many, mad, and breathtakingly fast. Ranging from Galloway to Northumberland, the main focus of the book is to be found in the Scottish Borders. Hogg knew and loved the Borders well, and the book is full of their oral tradition and local lore. In his attempt to synthesize this material with history, romance, and the high literary ideals of his time, Hogg's nearest modern parallels would be a combination of Tolkien and Iain Banks. Hogg's fusion of traditional folklore and innovative style was viewed as an anachronism by his contemporaries, and it is only now that his work is recognized as one of the most original and masterly in the Scottish canon. Edited and introduced by Douglas Gifford.

Avg Rating

4.18

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

55%

4 STARS

20%

3 STARS

15%

2 STARS

1 STARS

goodreads

Author

James Hogg

Author · 9 books

James Hogg was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a friend of many of the great writers of his day, including Sir Walter Scott, of whom he later wrote an unauthorized biography. He became widely known as the "Ettrick Shepherd", a nickname under which some of his works were published, and the character name he was given in the widely read series 'Noctes Ambrosianae', published in Blackwood's Magazine. He is best known today for his novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. His other works include the long poem The Queen's Wake, his collection of songs Jacobite Reliques, and the novels The Three Perils of Man, The Three Perils of Woman, and The Brownie of Bodsbeck.