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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... once was . The author trails behind these marks on the air . There is no doubt that Samuel Johnson has been a prize biograph- ical subject . He fanned the interest first with his own writings , which drop faint personal hints that have ...
... contempt for humanist ideals that once was reserved to a handful of philosophers , mostly in Europe , has now spread abroad . Nothing could be more absurd , from this point of view , than the belief of individuals 4 Introduction.
... once the hand of the Earl of Chesterfield , perhaps the most notable aristocratic man of letters and patron of letters in England . Soon everyone would know . A few months passed with no reply . Then one Friday , February 7 , 1755 ...
... once adressed your Lordship in public , I had exhausted all the Art of pleasing which a retired and uncourtly Scholar can possess . I had done all that I could , and no Man is well pleased to have his all neglected , be it ever so ...
... once was from what he has become . The " retired and uncourtly Scholar " once repulsed by Chesterfield is now on the verge of publication and fame . He has carried out a great work through untold difficulties , and , what makes it still ...
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 |