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Life of Johnson by James Boswell.
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MY DEAR SIR,
In every narrative, whether historical or biographical,
authenticity is of the utmost consequence[1].
Of this I have ever been so firmly persuaded, that
I inscribed a former work[2]...
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TITLES OF MANY OF THE WORKS
QUOTED IN THE NOTES.
In my notes I have often given but brief references
to the authors whom I quote. The following list,
which is not, however, so complete as I coul...
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Biography EssayJames Boswell is important for several reasons. His biography of Samuel Johnson is undoubtedly his most celebrated work, and for it he has traditionally been assigned pride of place amo...
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The Scottish biographer and diarist James Boswell (1740-1795), who wrote The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., published in 1791, ranks as the greatest biographer in the history of Western literature. Hi...
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James Boswell is important for several reasons. His biography of Samuel Johnson is undoubtedly his most celebrated work, and for it he has traditionally been assigned pride of place among biographers....
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James Boswell's impact on the development of biography as a genre and on the understanding of the requirements for good biographical writing can hardly be overstated. The discovery of Boswell's journa...
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In the following essay, Alkon discusses devices Boswell uses in the Life of Johnson in order to control the aesthetic distance between author and subject and author and reader.
I
Proper control of aes...
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In the following essay, Danziger explores the authorial comments of Boswell in the Life of Johnson. In an effort to counteract their typically negative critical reception, Danziger argues that "...
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In this essay, Yarrow analyzes Boswell's use of metaphor in the Life of Johnson, claiming that it reveals Boswell's effort to originate metaphors and maximize their use.
The greatest th...
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Life of Johnson, Volume 5
James Boswell
James Boswell
Critical Essay by Paul K. Alkon
