Overview

Samuel Johnson is a towering figure of eighteenth-century literature. As well as the celebrated Dictionary of the English Language, Johnson was the leading literary critic of his time, and a celebrated author who contributed to almost every genre from poetry to political pamphleteering. At the same time, an enduring legend developed around him, culminating in James Boswell's classic biography. This book offers a concise introduction to Johnson's many-sided work, and its complex and rich historical contexts. Presenting Johnson in his different guises – Journalist, Poet and Storyteller, Scholar, Critic, Political and Social Thinker, Biographer and Legend – it carefully guides the reader through Johnson's writings, and provides detailed expert treatments of his major texts.

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9781009534536

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Robert DeMaria, Jr. is the Henry Noble MacCracken Professor of English at Vassar College, and has devoted most of his professional life to the study of Samuel Johnson. He is the author of three monographs on Johnson and the co-editor of three volumes, as well as the general editor of the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson, 23 vols. (1958–2018). Dan Hitchens is a journalist and a senior editor at the First Things journal. He has written for publications including the Times, the Spectator and the Wall Street Journal.

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