The Life of Samuel Johnson: A Critical Biography (Wiley Blackwell Critical Biographies)

by Robert Demaria Jr. (Author)

• New

  Illustrated
  1994

  $54.15

  In this major revision of The Life of Samuel Johnson, Robert DeMaria makes a compelling claim for the attention of a new generation of Johnson's readers and admirers.Even as a child Johnson relied on his extraordinary powers of mind to distinguish himself from his family and to propel him into broader intellectual and social milieux. His hero was Joseph Scaliger and he dreamt of becoming a Latin scholar-poet, a citizen like Scaliger of the European republic of letters. His efforts and talents were remarkable. But financial and personal circumstances prevented him achieving his early dreams. Robert DeMaria describes his subject in terms of Johnson's own personal and professional hopes for himself and gets closer to the historical man than any previous study of the complete life and works.

• Used

  Hardcover
  1993

  $11.45

  Although Johnson succeeded in becoming the leading literary figure of his age, he always suffered from a heightened sense of failure. Even after strenuously revising his Dictionary of the English Language he felt profoundly dissatisfied with it. In his early years, he relied on his extraordinary powers of mind to distinguish himself from his family and to propel him into broader social and intellectual circles, and in his literary work sought to emulate his hero, Joseph Scaliger, by becoming a citizen of the European republic of letters . He never felt, however, that he had achieved these dreams, prevented from doing so by financial and personal circumstances - his nervous disorder and the melancholy that attended it. Robert DeMaria describes his subject in terms of Johnson's own personal and professional hopes for himself and aims to get closer to the historical man than any previous study of the complete life and works.