Winter Evening Tales (1820; second edition 1821) was James Hogg's most successful work of prose fiction in his lifetime.
Winter Evening Tales (1820; second edition 1821) was James Hogg's most successful work of prose fiction in his lifetime, as well as one of his best. It exhibits the most complex genesis of any of Hogg's works and is the outstanding example of a 'national' genre pioneered by Hogg--the miscellaneous collection of popular and traditional narratives, and the 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'. Many of the Tales were republished in the posthumous collected set of Hogg's fiction, and these unreliable texts were reprinted throughout the nineteenth century. However, Winter Evening Tales fell into almost total obscurity after the middle of the nineteenth century.
