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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... called his " folk - image " 1 — has tended to be far better known than his writings . This image was born in his own time , when he became not only a famous writer but a celebrity to a public that hungered for stories about him . Immedi ...
... called King Arthur . Such distinctions matter greatly to Johnson the critic , who holds that " the highest praise of genius is original invention " and that Paradise Lost " is not the great- est of heroick poems , only because it is not ...
... called into being by the needs of those in power for ways of under- standing and regulating writing . The consensus soon breaks down , however , when scholars try to identify the precise time and condi- tions that formed the author ...
... called them , " imitations . " No previous author , or at any rate no celebrated author , can be so firmly associated with hackwork . Hence if Johnson is indeed a great author — as I believe he became one by breaking the mold . In this ...
... called The World published an essay recommending a forthcoming English dictionary . Although the essayist has not yet seen this " great and desirable " work , he expresses the oblig- ation of the republic of letters to the author , one ...
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 |