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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... moral being , according to Johnson , and many readers have testified that Johnson's example has helped them to live . The art of biography has grown from the spark that he kindled ; that is not the least of his accomplishments . What ...
... moral catechism to regulate conduct in every situa- tion . Furthermore , letters served wonderfully well as a means of closing distances between people of different classes . A lord who might not open his door to someone shabbily ...
... morality and high- wrought English prose . Henceforth his name would sell books . When Chesterfield implied that " the various works of Mr. Johnson , already published , " had come " near to perfection , " 36 therefore , he was ...
... morality play . Hence the letter was always destined to be an exam- ple of something important : the fall of the patronage system , the rise of the middle class , the elevation of the man of letters to celebrity or hero , or even the ...
... moral universe were susceptible to the same minute and refined investigation as the world of the atom . A second way of describing Johnson's project might view it as con- verting the achievements of the golden age of the heroic couplet ...
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 |