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Biography & Autobiography Literary

Scotland's Pariah

The Life and Work of John Pinkerton, 1758-1826

by (author) Patrick O'Flaherty

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Jan 2015
Category
Literary, General, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Great Britain, 18th Century
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442619883
    Publish Date
    Jan 2015
    List Price
    $74.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781442649286
    Publish Date
    Dec 2014
    List Price
    $86.00

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Description

Scotland’s Pariah is the first book to examine the remarkable life of John Pinkerton: antiquarian, poet, forger, cartographer, historian, serial adulterer, bigamist, and religious skeptic. A pugnacious and persistent man of letters who knew and was admired by literary masters such as Edward Gibbon, Horace Walpole, and William Godwin, Pinkerton’s life was full of personal and professional misadventures.

Patrick O’Flaherty’s biography presents an engrossing account of Pinkerton’s life and works from his early years in Scotland to his Parisian exile, covering his major editorial, antiquarian, and geographic works. Examining Pinkerton’s involvement in the London literary scene, his conflicted relationship with the rise of Celtic nationalism, and his response to early literary romanticism, Scotland’s Pariah is a shrewd and compassionate evaluation of an astonishing literary life.

About the author

Patrick O'Flaherty, who lives in St. John's, Newfoundland, has written four works of fiction, the most recent of which is the novel Benny's Island. His latest books is Old Newfoundland: A History to 1843 (1999).

Patrick O'Flaherty's profile page