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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... Chesterfield's paper and Johnson's reply , regretted the falling - out , which he thought bad for business . 7 But Johnson's in- stinct for business may have been sounder . By spreading the word , if not the text , he set off a public ...
... Chesterfield could not impugn a genuine Maecenas . At any rate , what Johnson intended to say about patronage in general was open to question.13 Not many of his contemporaries set eyes on the letter , and those who heard about it seemed ...
... Chesterfield took it in just the right spirit , showing it off as a collector's item on which he could exercise his discrimination . The hand of the artist declares itself to a connois- seur in the smallest details . When Johnson wrote ...
... Chesterfield's vanity to blind him , the author implicitly mocks his taste for courtly French phrases and thirst for praise.21 Then suddenly , with " but , " the flattery stops . From this point on the reader is forced to adopt the ...
... Chesterfield should be carried along , made aware of his lack of consideration as well as the skill of the artist he has of- fended . Johnson is by no means his humble , obedient servant . This author takes pride in speaking as an equal ...
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 |