Samuel Johnson and James Boswell PAUL TANKARD Senior Lecturer In

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Samuel Johnson and James Boswell PAUL TANKARD Senior Lecturer In Samuel Johnson and James Boswell DR. PAUL TANKARD Senior Lecturer in English, University of Otago “Literary Passions” University of the Third Age, Dunedin, June 2018 Samuel Johnson (1709-84) Journalist, poet, essayist, lexicographer, editor, critic Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language (1755) Johnson’s writings 1738. London (poem) 1738-43. Work for the Gentleman’s Magazine 1741-44. Debates in Parliament 1749. The Vanity of Human Wishes (poem); Irene (play) 1750-52. The Rambler (essays) 1755. A Dictionary of the English Language 1758-60. The Idler (essays) 1759. Rasselas (novel) 1765. Edition of the works of Shakespeare 1770-75. Four political tracts 1775. Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland 1779-81. The Lives of the Poets (biography & criticism) The Sayings of Dr. Johnson (1991) The Beauties of Johnson (1782) Quotations • Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. • He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man. • When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford. • [Second Marriage:] the triumph of hope over experience • The prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates the mind wonderfully • Clear your mind of cant • Knowledge is of two kinds. We can know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. James Boswell (1740-96) Boswell’s Writings • 1768 An Account of Corsica, The Journal of a Tour to That Island, and Memoirs of Pascal Paoli • 1777-83 “The Hypochondriack” (essays in the London Magazine) • 1785 The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, with Samuel Johnson, LL.D • 1791 The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. POSTHUMOUS • 1950 Boswell’s London Journal, 1762-1763; followed by 13 more volumes of his journals, ending with: • 1989 Boswell: The Great Biographer, 1789-1795 • 2014 Facts and Inventions (a selection from his c.600 newspaper and magazine articles) .
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