内容简介
InBoswell'sLifeofSamuelJohnson,oneofthetoweringfiguresofEnglishliteratureisrevealedwithunparalleledimmediacyandoriginality,inabiographytowhichweowemuchofourknowledgeofthemanhimself.Throughaseriesofrichlydetailedanecdotes,Johnsonemergesasasociablefigure,vigorouslyengagingandfencingwithgreatcontemporariessuchasGarrick,Goldsmith,BurneyandBurke,andofcoursewithBoswellhimself.YetanxietiesandobsessionsalsodarkenedJohnson'sprivatehours,andBoswell'sattentivenesstoeveryfacetofJohnson'scharactermakesthisbiographyasmovingasitisentertaining.Inthisentirelynewandunabridgededition,DavidWomersley'sintroductionexaminesthemotivesbehindBoswell'swork,andthedifferencesbetweenthetwomenthatdrewthemtoeachother.ItalsocontainschronologiesofBoswellandJohnson,appendicesandcomprehensiveindexes,includingbiographicaldetails.
作者简介
JamesBoswell(1740-1795)wasalawyer,diarist,andauthorborninEdinburgh.HeisbestknownasthebiographerofSamuelJohnson.BoswellisknownfortakingvoraciousnotesonthegrandtourofEuropethathetookasayoungnoblemanand,subsequently,ofhistourtoScotlandwithJohnson.Healsorecordedmeetingsandconversationswitheminentindividualsbelongingto'TheClub',includingDavidGarrick,EdmundBurke,JoshuaReynoldsandOliverGoldsmith.SamuelJohnsonwasborninLichfieldin1709andwaseducatedatLichfieldGrammarSchooland,forashorttime,atPembrokeCollege,Oxford.In1735hemarriedElizabethJervisPorterandin1737movedtoLondon.There,hebecamearegularcontributortotheGentleman'sMagazine,butstruggledtoearnalivingfromwriting.HisLondon:APoeminImitationoftheThirdSatireofJuvenalwaspublishedanonymouslyin1738andattractedsomeattention.From1750to1752heissuedtheRambler,aperiodicalwrittenalmostentirelybyhimself,andconsolidatedhispositionasanotablemoralessayistwithsometwenty-fiveessaysintheAdventurer.WhenhisDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguagewaspublishedin1755,JohnsontookontheproportionsofaliterarymonarchintheLondonofhisday.Inneedofmoneytovisithissickmother,hewroteRasselas(1759)reportedlyintheeveningsofoneweek,finishingacoupleofdaysafterhismother'sdeath.In1763BoswellbecamehisfaithfulfolloweranditismainlyduetohimthatweoweourintimateknowledgeofJohnson.Johnson'slastmajorworkwasLivesofthePoets.HediedinDecember1784.DavidWomersleyistheThomasWartonProfessorofEnglishLiteratureattheUniversityofOxford.HehaspublishedwidelyonEnglishliteraturefromtheRenaissancetotheearlynineteenthcentury.ForPenguinhehaseditedGibbon'sHistoryoftheDeclineandFalloftheRomanEmpire,AugustanCriticalWriting,Burke'sPhilosophicalEnquiryintotheSublimeandBeautifulandOtherPre-RevolutionaryWritings,andSamuelJohnson'sSelectedEssays.
