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Indiana University Studies 



situation on the night after Agatha's death when she appar- 

 ently comes back to Hfe, not a human creature but a horrid 

 thing possessed of a demon is unquestionably powerful, how- 

 ever revolting. At the same time, excepting the disagreeable 

 concluding circle, the story of her recovery and the process 

 by which she gradually learns the events of her three years' 

 lapse from reason thru the means of her little child is a beauti- 

 ful picture of gentle sweetness. Take it all in all, the book is 

 what most of Hogg's stories are, the work of genius untram- 

 meled by the rules of art. 



The Confessions of a Fanatic is an ingenious book which is 

 at once an example of the best and the worst of Hogg's 

 eccentric manner. It is divided into three parts, each of which 

 in turn bears a double character. The first part, or Editor's 

 Narrative, is one of the most exciting stories the author ever 

 wrote. The feeling is intense, the situations powerfully de- 

 scribed, and one character, tho a monstrosity, is superlatively 

 drawn. Over all the long list of peculiar incidents culminat- 

 ing in a mysterious murder, Hogg throws that supernatural 

 veil that makes the events of another world seem real to the 

 eyes of this. But, at the very end, when all seems in a fair 

 way to a satisfactory explanation, the principal personage 

 disappears and the narrative ends abruptly as things some- 

 times end in life — with no clue to the mystery. 



This was a favorite device of Hogg's, apparently a part of 

 his belief as to the best way to produce an impression of re- 

 ality. Most of his stories of the supernatural show no evi- 

 dence that he ever thought that the reader would ask for a 

 rational explanation. 



Part 2 of the volume under consideration consists of the 

 Confessions proper, supposed to have been written by the 

 Fanatic who so mysteriously disappeared at the end of the 

 Editor's Narrative. This story is more prolix than the other, 

 more of a psychological study (a form of treatise not at all 

 suited to Hogg's powers). For a few pages the interest of 

 the reader is very keen. Soon he gets a hint or two that enable 

 him to piece out all the rest of the narrative; but the author 

 proceeds to re-narrate all the facts already introduced, but 

 from a new point of view. Interest flags until a point is 

 reached where the reader suddenly realizes the importance of 

 a character who all along has seemed to be playing second 



