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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... Vanity of Human Wishes 86 5. Man of Letters : A Dictionary of the English Language 103 6. The Living World : The Rambler 145 7. Reclaiming Imagination : Rasselas 173 8. The Theater of Mind : The Plays of William Shakespeare 198 9 ...
... vanity to blind him , the author implicitly mocks his taste for courtly French phrases and thirst for praise.21 Then suddenly , with " but , " the flattery stops . From this point on the reader is forced to adopt the author's position ...
... Vanity of Human Wishes . Within a month his tragedy Irene opened at Drury Lane . The playwright him- self attended , in a side box , and wore a scarlet waistcoat and gold- laced hat ; on this occasion he may have been noticed too much ...
... Vanity of Human Wishes— " There mark what Ills the Scholar's Life assail , / Toil , Envy , Want , the Patron , and the Jail . " 37 Evidently Johnson likes to ventilate his re- venge . Yet his satirical hits also seem to assume that ...
... vanities of fine ladies and polished gentlemen , op- posed to the pedantic scholar , supply an affectionate running joke for Chesterfield ; he ends by advising Johnson to publish , " by way of appendix to his great work , a genteel ...
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 |