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The Times and Influence of Samuel Johnson

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The Times and Influence of Samuel Johnson UNIVERZITA PALACKÉHO V OLOMOUCI FILOZOFICKÁ FAKULTA Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky Martina Tesařová The Times and Influence of Samuel Johnson Bakalářská práce Studijní obor: Anglická filologie Vedoucí práce: Mgr. Ema Jelínková, Ph.D. OLOMOUC 2013 Prohlášení Prohlašuji, že jsem bakalářskou práci na téma „Doba a vliv Samuela Johnsona“ vypracovala samostatně a uvedla úplný seznam použité a citované literatury. V Olomouci dne 15.srpna 2013 …………………………………….. podpis Poděkování Ráda bych poděkovala Mgr. Emě Jelínkové, Ph.D. za její stále přítomný humor, velkou trpělivost, vstřícnost, cenné rady, zapůjčenou literaturu a ochotu vždy pomoci. Rovněž děkuji svému manželovi, Joe Shermanovi, za podporu a jazykovou korekturu. Johnson, to be sure, has a roughness in his manner, but no man alive has a more tender heart. —James Boswell Table of Contents 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 2. The Age of Johnson: A Time of Reason and Good Manners ......................... 3 3. Samuel Johnson Himself ................................................................................. 5 3.1. Life and Health ......................................................................................... 5 3.2. Works ..................................................................................................... 10 3.3. Johnson’s Club ....................................................................................... 18 3.4. Opinions and Practice ............................................................................. 19 3.4.1. Philosophy and Religion ................................................................. 19 3.4.2. Humanity ......................................................................................... 22 3.4.3. Women and Marriage ...................................................................... 24 4. Loves and Friendships ................................................................................... 26 5. Impacts He Made .......................................................................................... 29 5.1. James Boswell: I Am Fond of Tea ......................................................... 30 5.2. Jane Austen: Common Sense and Sensibility ........................................ 33 5.3. Samuel Beckett: I Regret Everything ..................................................... 36 6. His Presence in the Present ........................................................................... 39 7. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 42 8. Resumé .......................................................................................................... 44 9. Annotation ..................................................................................................... 45 10. Anotace....................................................................................................... 46 11. Bibliography ............................................................................................... 47 1. Introduction Samuel Johnson (18th September 1709–13th December 1784) was a great and colourful literary figure of the eighteenth century. He wrote essays, reviews, sermons, biographies, travelogues, poetry, an edition of Shakespeare's plays and his most famous work, the Dictionary of the English Language. A sociable person, he had deep and long-lasting relationships with his renowned contemporaries, such as David Garrick, Edmund Burke, Joshua Reynolds, and with his younger companion James Boswell. In many broadsheets, in parliamentary debates, or in discussions on both radio and television, the remark ‘As Dr Johnson once said’ frequently occurs, followed by a witty and erudite quotation proving his sharp insight. But if not for the biography of his friend James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, the name of Johnson could have been mostly forgotten, forever lost in depth of the past. Some facts, events, works, and friends of Johnson’s life I omitted in this thesis due to the need to keep the size within limits. After the introduction, the chapter ‘The Age of Johnson: A Time of Reason and Good Manners’ provides an overview of the time when Johnson was born. It was a period of rationalism and of the development of humanistic thinking with emphasis on the individual in society. Several literary genres, such as the novel, satire, and essay, gained importance and a new readership emerged from the middle class. The chapter also briefly outlines the foreign affairs of England at that time. The second chapter, about Samuel Johnson, describes his life story and his mental as well as physical conditions that steered his literary career. His early years were affected by relative poverty which deeply influenced him and provided him not only with empathy but also with a sense of charity towards the less fortunate people whom he often took care of. The subchapter ‘Works’ presents Johnson’s literary achievements and growing reputation that started with the publication of the poem ‘Vanity of Human Wishes’ and was sealed with the Dictionary masterpiece. ‘Johnson’s Club’ gives the evidence of his influence on the major contemporary personalities of wide-ranging professions who all desired to become members of this conversational fraternity. 1 Chapter ‘Opinions and Practices’ focuses on three topics that were very important to Johnson: philosophy and religion; humanity; women and marriage. These subchapters complete Johnson’s portrayal; they draw the contours around his views on evil and good, on his never-ending quest for happiness that echoes in his works, and on his search for love. ‘Loves and Friendships’ reveals the attachment Johnson felt towards those he considered the closest to him. It depicts his lighter as well as his darker traits and inclinations within the relationships and it tells of his marriage to Elizabeth Porter, and tries to explain why he felt guilty for the rest of his life when she died. The chapter about Johnson’s impacts on the literary figures both in his time and in the future analyses in detail what drew other writers to Johnson and his work so that they felt compelled to replicate some of his ideas and attitudes in their own writings. Aside from James Boswell (as Johnson’s contemporary) where the purpose for choosing him has been already stated; I chose Jane Austen, as a nineteenth-century representative, for her positivity and her willfulness to fight for satisfaction and individual freedom. The third writer is Samuel Beckett, as the twentieth-century master whose attitude to life and embrace of pessimism were opposite of Austen’s. Nevertheless, Beckett was closer to the real Samuel Johnson in term of pessimism. But all three, Johnson, Beckett and Austen shared a great sense of humor. The last chapter ‘His Presence in the Present’ traces the reasons why nowadays Johnson is not very well-known in the public mind and stays alive mainly in the world of academia. It also gives some suggestions for Johnson’s revival in the broader public consciousness. To sum it up, my thesis aspires to present a vivid portrait of Johnson as a human being, an eccentric, opinionated, and lovable person. It also focuses on the reasons why Johnson was so widely accepted and popular in various social circles, how he influenced the period he lived in, and why we should still consider him an important figure even in our own time. 2 2. The Age of Johnson: A Time of Reason and Good Manners For understanding Samuel Johnson’ times, I will return even further back to a period named the Augustan Age. This term refers to a period of literary fame under the Roman emperor Augustus (27 BC–AD 14), during which Virgil, Horace, and Ovid flourished. Marked by civil peace and prosperity, this golden age reached its highest expression in poetry. With polished and sophisticated verses ‘it celebrated patriotism, love and nature’.1 English literature re-used the term and applied it to the early and mid-eighteenth century when Samuel Johnson lived. The early usages date back to the reign of Charles II (1660–1685), and include the publications of both Isaac Newton’s Principia (1687) and John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690). Locke’s essay shows a society in which ‘business is not to know all things, but those which concern our conduct’.2 Rousseau and the Encyclopaedists (the eighteenth-century French writers centered around editors Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert) presented the idea of a ‘noble savage’ which was readily accepted by the society. Another French humanist, Voltaire, ‘embraced the idea of the brotherhood of man and the essential goodness of man’.3 The eighteenth century, prior to the French Revolution (1789–1779), is often thought of as a period of effete politeness and intelligence, of cultured and artificial decadence, of scepticism, atrophy, and want of enterprise. Revisiting the era, the English Augustan writers greatly admired their Roman counterparts, imitated their works and frequently drew parallels between the two ages. There was a new reading public, which included upper-class women and a new prosperous middle class. They were attracted to the new writing of popular periodical essays, miscellaneous collections of verse and prose, newspapers and magazines, such as Sir Richard Steele and Joseph Addison’s The Spectator. This literary epoch featured the rapid development of satire (e.g. Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, 1714),
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