A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland AND The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

Samuel Johnson; James Boswell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140432213 ISBN 13: 9780140432213

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 1984

Synopsis

Book by Samuel Johnson, published in 1775. The Journey was the result of a three-month trip to Scotland that Johnson took with James Boswell in 1773. It contains Johnson's descriptions of the customs, religion, education, trade, and agriculture of a society that was new to him. The account in Boswell's diary, published after Johnson's death as The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1785), offers an intimate personal record of Johnson's behavior and conversation during the trip.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Johnson's 'Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland' is not only a narrative of personal experience, rare in the canon of his writings, but also a deeply reflective survey of the Highlands and Isles--their social and economic structure, their traditions and customs. Beyond this, Johnson undertakes a subtle, penetrating analysis of a people in the throes of change, and examines the predicament they face as a result.

About the Author:

Samuel Johnson was born in 1709 and died in 1784--a long life, though one marred by depression and fear of death. Samuel Johnson's literary reputation rests on such a varied output that he defies easy description: poet, critic, lexicographer, travel writer, essayist, editor, and, with his good friend and fellow traveller James Boswell, a biographer. l

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 1984
• ISBN 10: 0140432213
• ISBN 13: 9780140432213
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432
• Editor: Peter Levi