Boswell’s Presumptuous Task (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Adam Sisman
- First Published: 2000
- Type of Work: Literary biography
- Time of Work: 1740-1795
- Setting: London and Scotland
- Principal Characters: James Boswell, Samuel Johnson, Sir John Hawkins, Edmond Malone, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, Sir Joshua Reynolds
- Genres: Nonfiction, Biography
- Subjects: Authors or writers, Literature, Writing, England or English people, Eighteenth century, London
- Locales: London, England, Scotland
In the preface to his first book, Boswell wrote, “I have an ardent desire for literary fame.” Even in his early twenties he knew that he would seek that fame as a biographer. He was less certain of his subject. Among his early candidates was the Scottish philosopher David Hume. Although the two quarreled in 1763 because Boswell published some of Hume’s private comments, Boswell had not abandoned this project as late as 1776, when he interviewed the dying Hume to probe the philosopher’s atheistic views. During his Grand Tour in the mid-1760’s, Boswell met Voltaire and...
[The entire page is 1938 words long]
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