Samuel Johnson - A Biography

Martin, Peter

ISBN 10: 0297607197 / ISBN 13: 9780297607199

Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2008

About this Item

2008. xviii, 522pp. Colour and b&w illustartions. SIGNED "Peter Martin" on the title page without dedication. "Benefiting from recent critical scholarship that has explored new attitudes toward Johnson, Martin's biography gives us a human and sympathetic portrait of Dr. Johnson. Johnson's criticism of colonial expansion, his advocacy for the abolition of slavery, his encouragement of women writers, his treatment of his female friends as equals, and his concern for the underprivileged and poor make him a very "modern" figure. The Johnson that emerges from this enthralling biography, published for the tercentenary of Johnson's birth, is still the foremost figure of his age but a more rebellious, unpredictable, flawed, and sympathetic figure than has been previously known." PLEASE NOTE: Heavyish book so a little extra may be needed for shipping to non-UK customers.

Seller Inventory # LitJohnson007

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Samuel Johnson - A Biography
• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0297607197
• ISBN 13: 9780297607199
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good Plus
• Signed: SIGNED COPY
• Seller catalogs:
  • Biography
  • Literature

About this title

Synopsis

Poet, essayist, biographer, lexicographer, critic, conversationalist and wit, Dr Johnson is one of the great figures of English literature, perhaps the most quoted English writer after Shakespeare. Our view of Johnson has been overwhelmingly shaped by James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, published in 1791, the most famous biography in the English language. But invaluable as Boswell is as a source, he should not be the last word. This new biography illuminates the Johnson that Boswell never knew: the awkward youth, the unsuccessful schoolmaster, the eccentric marriage, his early years in London in the 1740s scratching a living, the epic struggle to produce the Dictionary. Very much the outsider, rather than the supremely confident dispenser of robust common sense. Using material unknown to previous biographers, Peter Martin describes the psychological knife-edge on which Johnson felt he lived, caused by his severe melancholia and his physical diseases. He explores Johnson's role in the publishing and printing world of the time and he reveals how important women were to Johnson throughout his life. The Samuel Johnson that emerges from this enthralling biography is still the foremost figure of his age but a more rebellious, unpredictable and sympathetic figure than the one that Boswell so memorably portrayed.

About the Author

Peter Martin was born in Argentina of English parents and educated there and in the US. He has taught English literature on both sides of the Atlantic and written extensively on 18th-century British and American literature and culture. He divides his time between Spain and a house in West Sussex.