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) .