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." |
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... mind . His analysis specifically opposes ideas ( or " mental images " ) to words , and argues that the feeble vulgarity of the diction- " dun , " " knife , " " peep , " " blanket " -counteracts the power of the personifications , Night ...
... mind can only repose on the stability of truth . " Thus truth involves a characteristic self - recognition , in which the mind is quieted by coming home , from " that novelty of which the common satiety of life sends us all in quest ...
... mind , which has feasted on the luxurious wonders of fiction , has no taste of the insipidity of truth " ( 7 : 82 ) . But overindulgence is bad for the health of the mind . Johnson would rather praise the writer who cures his readers of ...
Contents
the Western Islands of Scotland | 234 |
The Lives of the English Poets | 259 |
Johnsons Endings | 295 |
Copyright | |
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