Book description
In Boswell s Life of Samuel Johnson, one of the towering
figures of English literature is revealed with unparalleled immediacy
and originality. While Johnson s Dictionary remains a monument
of scholarship, and his essays and criticism command continuing
respect, we owe our knowledge of the man himself to this biography.
Through a series of wonderfully detailed anecdotes, Johnson emerges as
a sociable figure with a huge appetite for life, crossing swords with
other great eighteenth-century luminaries, from Garrick and Goldsmith
to Burney and Burke even his long-suffering friend and disciple
James Boswell. Yet Johnson had a vulnerable, even tragic, side and
anxieties and obsessions haunted his private hours. Boswell s
sensitivity and insight into every facet of his subject s character
ultimately make this biography as moving as it is entertaining.
Based on the 1799 edition, Christopher Hibbert s abridgement
preserves the integrity of the original, while his fascinating
introduction sets Boswell s view of Samuel Johnson against that of
others of the time.
