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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... letter to 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 ...
... Letter to 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 ...
... What is an author ? " is " Samuel Johnson " —not a paragon or an abstraction , but one op- pressed , ambitious writer , forging his own identity in difficult times . 1 The Birth of the Author : The Letter to 10 Introduction.
... Letter to 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 ...
... 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 . No manuscript of the original survives , nor was it ...
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 |