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." |
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... true that the modern author was born exactly when John- son was , and was nurtured as he was by a rapid growth in the book trade , it is certainly true that contracts between writers , patrons , and the public were renegotiated in his ...
... true that Johnson's passage on " seven years " recalls and reverses Horace's Satires 2.6 : " The seventh , nearly the eighth year now will have fled since Maecenas began to count me among his own . " 40 With such a patron , Horace was ...
... true meaning of love . Cupid remains unmoved by the scars he inflicts . At the same time Johnson coaxes out another implication . He had previously condemned the lines from Virgil , not only because they sounded inappropriate or ...
... true . Our first impression and judgment must be suspended . The energy of John- son's analysis is fueled by his skepticism , the restless intelligence that finds something wanting in each received opinion.39 The very begin- ning of the ...
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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 |