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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... political hireling , Towers leaves room for another interpretation of Johnson's career , in which the Rambler's principles now turn to the public weal . It is not the occasion that makes the author , on this reading , but the author who ...
... political voice is especially strik- ing in what is often judged his most successful political pamphlet , Thoughts on the Late Transactions Respecting Falkland's Islands ( 1771 ) . Here if anywhere he draws upon the skills he had ...
... political issues could menace Johnson's hard - won equilibrium . It is not surprising that his response might sometimes be savage . More broadly , however , the double voice of Johnson's pamphlets seems to reflect a doubt that he had ...
Contents
the Western Islands of Scotland | 234 |
The Lives of the English Poets | 259 |
Johnsons Endings | 295 |
Copyright | |
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