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
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... Chesterfield that made Johnson a celebri- ty , Samuel Johnson offers fresh readings of all the writer's major works , viewed through the lens of two ongoing preoccu- pations : the urge to do great deeds — and the sense that bold ...
... Chesterfield 11 2. First Flowers : Johnson's Beginnings 34 3. Becoming an Author : London ; Life of Savage 48 4. Preferment's Gate : The Vanity of Human Wishes 86 5. Man of Letters : A Dictionary of the English Language 103 6. The ...
... Chesterfield A letter always arrives at its destination . O N Thursday , November 28 , 1754 , a fashionable London peri- odical called The World published an essay recommending a forthcoming English dictionary . Although the essayist ...
... Chesterfield , perhaps the most notable aristocratic man of letters and patron of letters in England . Soon everyone would know . A few months passed with no reply . Then one Friday , February 7 , 1755 , Johnson wrote a letter to ...
... Chesterfield and his pretensions . Yet even more , it seems to announce the coming of age of a writer who will never again allow himself to be ignored . Johnson awakes and tells the world to take notice . In fact the stir would make him ...
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 |