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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... death would in- volve much more than Johnson's personal comfort . In the eyes of his followers , it was his public duty . Yet another reason for curiosity was that the dying man had spo- ken and written so powerfully about death ...
... death would soon belong to literature . Moreover , death scenes fascinated eighteenth - century readers . Many biographers - though not Johnson himself2 - climaxed their narratives with the last words that might reveal the state of the ...
... death , Dr was changed to Mr. 87. “ In Rivum a Mola Stoana Lichfeldiæ diffluentem " ( November 1784 ? ) , Poems , p . 261 . 88. " Translation of Horace ' Odes , ' Book IV.vii " ( November 1784 ) , Poems , p . 265. Samuel Beckett copied ...
Contents
the Western Islands of Scotland | 234 |
The Lives of the English Poets | 259 |
Johnsons Endings | 295 |
Copyright | |
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