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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... writing , associated with the great writers of the past , the conventions of epistolary form , and cadences far too elaborate for conversation . It claims acquaintance with a so- ciety of books , with the heritage of a language written ...
... written the letter , nor could he have written it without feeling that he deserved to be famous ; the pain of unjust obscurity throbs through all his protestations of indifference . Yet just at that moment , coming into his own , he is ...
... writing that displays some learning or formal distinction , not mere information . The " Literary Article " would continue to grow . Thus the Literary Magazine , or Universal Review , whose preliminary address " To the Public " was written ...
Contents
the Western Islands of Scotland | 234 |
The Lives of the English Poets | 259 |
Johnsons Endings | 295 |
Copyright | |
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