Boswell, James | Robert H. Bell (essay date 1977)
Robert H. Bell (essay date 1977)
SOURCE: "Boswell's Notes toward a Supreme Fiction: From London Journal to Life of Johnson," in Dr. Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, edited by Harold Bloom, pp. 149-63. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.
[In the essay that follows, Bell considers Boswell's London Journal to be a groundbreaking work in the development of the first-person factual narrative. He commends in particular Boswell's use of personal experience as a means of establishing his literary persona.]
Boswell's London Journal, 1762-1763 reveals a great deal about the author's youthful struggles and tumultuous season in the city. As a vivid, intimate autobiographical record, the journal is unsurpassed; it is also a work of distinct literary artistry. Boswell affirms at the outset both his authenticity and artistic sensibility: "I shall here put down my thoughts on different subjects at different...
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