Designing the Life of Johnson

"For over two centuries James Boswell's massive biography of Samuel Johnson has been both reverenced and reviled. Yet neither its admirers nor its critics have fully understood how the book was designed to work upon them. Boswell himself is partly to blame: throughout the Life he directs attention away from artistry to industry, from creative choices to dedicated researches. Yet his working manuscript, one of the twentieth century's greatest literary discoveries, tells a much different tale. Designing the Life of Johnson, the first study of its kind, reconstructs Boswell's models and methods by charting this textual labyrinth. It begins by analysing the stages that led to the first edition, goes on to reveal the impact of portrait and theatre-piece upon the structure of the Life, and ends by uncovering the transformation of Johnson from savage into sage. The result is a more subtle, more vital assessment of Boswell the designer - and an enhanced awareness of biography's power to make life into art."--Jacket.

First sentence: James Boswell's publisher, Edward Dilly, was hot off the mark: the day after news of Johnson's death reached Boswell in December 1784, he received 'a letter from Mr. Dilly mentioning it, and in the true spirit of the trade wanting to know if I could have an octavo volume of 400 pages of [Johnson's] conversations ready' within two months.'

Year

2002

Language

English

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

Editions

1

Pages

200

ISBN

9780199284832

Data source: Wikidata