James Boswell, The Hypochondriak

Ian McGowan (University of Stirling)

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)

Domains

Journalism

Dates

First circulation or publication 1777 - 1783

Places

Scotland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Commentary / Criticism (literary)

Resources

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Like many eighteenth-century men of letters, James Boswell was a prolific essayist and contributed, usually anonymously, to many periodicals, most extensively in the seventy monthly essays (1777-83) of “The Hypochondriack” for

The London Magazine

, of which he was part owner; they were collected with annotation by Margery Bailey in 1928. “Hypochondria” – melancholy – was a fashionable malady of the period, and one that intermittently afflicted Boswell; but fortunately he drew for subject matter on his wide cultural background as well as private experience to write about many of the social topics of the day--love, death, religion, life in the country--as well as literature – diaries, criticism, authorial revision. If they lack the profundity of Johnson's

Rambler

or the…

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410 words

Citation: McGowan, Ian. "The Hypochondriak". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 January 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=546, accessed 25 November 2024.]