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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... nature of authorship . Beginning with the defiant 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 ...
... nature of language itself , where any saying or scribble might be analyzed either as the prod- uct of a system of signs ( langue ) or as a fresh combination ( parole ) . Authors themselves may share these doubts , experiencing the ...
... about what an author must be . The case might also be posed in Johnsonian terms . The principle that " human nature is always the same , " 13 no matter how customs and manners may change , informs all his work . 9 Introduction.
... natural turn is more to the copious- ness , than to the correction of diction " ; a future paper will give hints of how to please the ladies . Finally , in a postscript , he denies that anyone has paid him for this puff : " neither Mr ...
... they have no ground in nature , are indeed of little value in any poem . ' For Johnson , the " hyperbolical joy and outrageous sorrow " of lovers " 143 are marks of second - rate poetry.44 Yet the image 25 The Letter to Chesterfield.
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 |