Samuel Johnson: The Life of an AuthorHarvard University Press, 2009 M07 1 - 384 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 1-5 of 39
... Boswell's pivotal Life of Johnson ( 1791 ) , ensured that curiosity would never die . The image even has its own name , Dr. Johnson ( a title he sel- dom if ever used ) . Nor has the fascination faded . One good anthol- ogy of Johnson's ...
... Boswell should come first " —since to read the writings without knowing the man " is to miss the vivifying power of ... Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides , with Samuel Johnson , LL.D. ( 1785 ) , a companion to Johnson's own ...
... Boswell said , " excelled all mankind in writing the lives of others . " The effort to think oneself into the frame of mind and the motives of someone else helps to define a moral being , according to Johnson , and many readers have ...
... Boswell . This is Baretti's text . February 1755 My Lord : I have been lately informed by the Proprietor of The World that two Papers in which my Dictionary is recommended to the Public were written by your Lordship . To be so ...
... Boswell paved the way for his Life of Johnson by publishing the letter for the first time , with notes , in four quarto pages for half a guinea.5 How had a private message become so famous ? Only two people could have been responsible ...
Contents
11 | |
34 | |
48 | |
Preferments Gate The Vanity of Human Wishes | 86 |
Man of Letters A Dictionary of the English Language | 103 |
The Living World The Rambler | 145 |
Reclaiming Imagination Rasselas | 173 |
The Theater of Mind The Plays of William Shakespeare | 198 |
Journeying Westward Political Writings A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland | 234 |
Touching the Shore The Lives of the English Poets | 259 |
The Life to Come Johnsons Endings | 295 |
Abbreviation | 307 |
Notes | 309 |
Index | 363 |