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
Results 1-3 of 53
... learning ; and in Rasselas Imlac , described as both a man of learning and a poet , equates poetry with the highest learning and the poet with a scholar beyond compare.42 If Johnson enjoys some irony at Imlac's expense , he also agrees ...
... learning to true skill in let- ters : " When men of learning are acted by a knowledge of the world , they give a reputation to literature , and convince the world of its use- fulness . " Evidently one cannot have literature without men ...
... learning . The very first observation on the specimen sheet of proposals , in fact , belittles the learning of a player . When Macbeth complains that under Banquo " My Genius is rebuk'd ; as it is said / Anthony's was by Caesar ...
Contents
the Western Islands of Scotland | 234 |
The Lives of the English Poets | 259 |
Johnsons Endings | 295 |
Copyright | |
2 other sections not shown