James Hogg's fiction and the periodicals

Abstract

A general preference for novels over shorter fiction has tended to obscure the extent to which James Hogg excels as a writer of short tales, many of which originally made their appearance as periodical contributions. Hogg wrote for various periodicals throughout his creative career, and in some cases the periodical version of a tale is to be preferred to that in collections of his work. This study examines the ways in which the periodicals of' Hogg's own day influenced his tales in subject-matter, form, length, and quantity. In addition, the development of the periodical market is shown to have had a significant bearing upon the shape of Hogg's career.

Chapter One examines Hogg's upbringing and early self-education.. and traces his earliest development as a writer of poetry and prose with particular reference to the influences of Scott and the Scots Magazine. Hogg's first important separate publication of 1807 is viewed as-summarising the important features of this period of literary amateurism, and the section concludes with his decision to become a professional literary man.

In Chapter Two Hogg's efforts to make his way in Edinburgh as a professional writer under extremely unfavourable conditions are examined. Despite his apparent success as a writer of long narrative poems Hogg made several attempts at creating a periodical outlet for his work., the most significant of which is his own periodical The Spy. in which he published his earliest known prose fiction. This periodical is- seen as an individual variation of the well-known tradition of the British essay-periodical and as a forerunner of the weekly literary newspaper. Hogg's fiction for this paper is examined, and the relationship between it and the two first volume collections of fiction described.

The considerable effect of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine on Hogg's fiction is the subject of Chapter Three. William Blackwood's adequate payments for magazine fiction increased the number of Hogg's periodical tales, and he was sometimes specifically identified with magazine fiction. As a representative of the newer type of magazine Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine provided Hogg with material for his writing., while its own local and intimate character made him appreciate the advantages for his fiction in a relatively informal narrator. Hogg's personality'as the Shepherd and his fiction are discussed in-the context of attempts in the magazine and by its chief contributors to define and support the national religion and the national character. Hogg's series 'The Shepherd's Calendar' is analysed within this magazine context.

Chapter Four details Hogg's attempts,, only partially successful, to find an alternative periodical market for his tales during the last years of his life. The various limitations of the Edinburgh Literary Journal and Chambers's Edinburgh Journal in Edinburgh, and of the Annuals and Fraser's Magazine in London, are discussed for Hogg's fiction. As an imitation of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine during its earlier years Fraser's Magazine was probably the most satisfactory of these, but none of the chief periodicals Hogg wrote for in his later years could replace it.

A substantial appendix gives a fresh account of the contemporary reception of Hogg's fiction., compiled partly by means of what may be deduced as to the sale of his fiction but chiefly consisting of analysis of reviews and comments in contemporary periodicals.