Samuel Johnson

Philip Smallwood (Birmingham City University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

Born 7 Sep 1709
Died 13 Dec 1784
Activity 1735-1784

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Genres and Modes

Romance

Activities

Primary

Biographer
Essayist
Journalist
Lexicographer
Novelist
Pamphleteer
Poet
Political writer

Other

Travel writer

Resources

Johnson's Works

Save to Bookshelf

The best source of information about the life of Johnson remains James Boswell's

Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.

, published in 1791. This is available in many popular reprints, the major scholarly edition being that of George Birkbeck Hill, revised in six volumes by L.F. Powell (1934-1964). Other major contemporary stores of biographical material compiled by Johnson's acquaintances include the

Anecdotes

of Hester Lynch Piozzi (Mrs Thrale), and memoirs by the artist Sir Joshua Reynolds, both reprinted in the two volumes of

Johnsonian Miscellanies

, edited by George Birkbeck Hill (1897). The best modern biographies of Johnson are John Wain's

SamuelJohnson

(1974) and Walter Jackson Bate's major study, similarly titled, of 1977. Authoritative accounts of Johnson's life prior to his acquaintance…

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1989 words

Citation: Smallwood, Philip. "Samuel Johnson". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2387, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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