The Life of Samuel Johnson (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Robert DeMaria, Jr.
- First Published: 1993
- Type of Work: Literary biography
- Time of Work: 1709-1784
- Setting: England and Scotland
- Principal Characters: Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Jervis Porter Johnson, Michael Johnson, Cornelius Ford, Edward Cave, Robert Dodsley, James Boswell, David Garrick
- Genres: Nonfiction, Biography
- Subjects: Literature, Poetry or poets, Poverty or poor people, England or English people, Eighteenth century, Publishing or publishers, Scotland or Scottish people
- Locales: England, Scotland
In his Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775) Samuel Johnson wrote of Skye, “We came thither too late to see what we expected, a people of peculiar appearance, and a system of antiquated life.” Robert DeMaria, Jr., correctly applies this sense of belatedness to Johnson’s “general sense of his own intellectual lateness in the history of literature, imagination, and faith.” Johnson’s burden of the past manifests itself in his lifelong attempt to link himself to the tradition of European Renaissance humanism.
By the time Johnson entered Oxford in 1728,...
[The entire page is 1791 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
