James Boswell: The Life of Johnson

This is a radical introduction to the Life of Johnson.

Greg Clingham (Author)

9780521378932, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 August 2008

152 pages
20.4 x 12.7 x 1 cm, 0.18 kg

This is a radical introduction to the Life of Johnson. It discusses the main structural, dramatic, historical and imaginative aspects of the work, and establishes its intellectual contexts: Hume's philosophy, earlier biographical writings by Boswell, and the French and German Enlightenment and romantic traditions. Professor Clingham offers an account of the Life based upon reassessment of the nature of biography, of Boswell's style and thought, and of Johnson's own works. As he examines the Life's complex psychological, emotional and artistic facets, a fresh picture of Boswell as biographer emerges. The book also provides a table of the principal scenes and conversations in the Life, as well as a chronological table of Boswell's life and times and a guide to further reading.

Preface
Textual note
Chronology
Some of the principle scenes and conversations in the Life
1. Boswell's reputation
2. Boswell's art in the Life
3. The structure of Boswell's experience and the Life
4. The structure, scenes, and conversations of the Life
5. The ending of the Life and the meaning of Johnson's character
6. Boswell's modernity
Conclusion: the place of the Life
Bibliography and guide to further reading.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]