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.
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