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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... turn he became the model reader whom others imagined . I too have had model readers . My principal debt is to the col- league and friend to whom this book is dedicated , the late Jean Hagstrum , whose goodness and good counsel have not ...
... 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. Johnson ...
... turns into the flat indig- nity of " so little incouraged , " and for the first time the writer reveals not only his modesty but also his pride . The rest of the letter will have nothing to do with " the art of pleasing . " Johnson ...
... turns into a sour recan- tation in which every word takes back what was earlier said.35 John- son's letter erases the end of his Plan . Above all SAM . JOHNSON meant something different in 1755. The author of the Dictionary had come a ...
... turn . But while I sing , the nimble moments fly , See ! Sol's bright Chariot seeks the Western Main , And Ah ! behold the shriveling blossoms die , So late admir'd , and prais'd , alas ! in vain . With grief this emblem of Mankind I ...
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 |