Samuel JohnsonHarvard University Press, 1998 - 372 pages He was a servant to the public, a writer for hire. He was a hero, an author adding to the glory of his nation. But can a writer be both hack and hero? The career of Samuel Johnson, recounted here by Lawrence Lipking, proves that the two can be one. And it further proves, in its enduring interest for readers, that academic fashions today may be a bit hasty in pronouncing the "death of the author." |
From inside the book
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... Wishes repeatedly pictures a traveler who forges ahead but soon loses the way . No short cuts are allowed . The poem consistently rebukes enthusiasm ( “ a vain belief of private revela- tion " or " violence of passion " ) , ' whose heat ...
... Wishes . Yet they also kept him from thinking that he stood out . Juve- nal's wit and Johnson's compassion for others join in a general , all- encompassing vision , a poem that makes sense of something as idle as wishes . It seems a ...
... wish - fulfillment and its risks account for the allure of this fairy tale , like so many others , " The Fountains " differs in one key detail : Floretta's power to take her wishes back and wish again . This one condition changes every ...
Contents
the Western Islands of Scotland | 234 |
The Lives of the English Poets | 259 |
Johnsons Endings | 295 |
Copyright | |
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