Samuel JohnsonHe was a servant to the public, a writer for hire. He was a hero, an author adding to the glory of his nation. But can a writer be both hack and hero? The career of Samuel Johnson, recounted here by Lawrence Lipking, proves that the two can be one. And it further proves, in its enduring interest for readers, that academic fashions today may be a bit hasty in pronouncing the "death of the author." |
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... vanity , content to spy on folly from the shade . Nor does the poem target foibles of the age . Another poet might have made more of the faddish image of fireworks , so easy to exploit for com- edy and political gossip ; Johnson adapts ...
... vanity fair . The triumph of poetry , however , is not just seeing but seeing tena- ciously through . The Vanity of Human Wishes strives to see beyond appearances , to view life as a whole . Perhaps none of Johnson's crit- ical ...
... vanity . But even a single character would illustrate the way in which the frustrated wishes of one life act out the misfor- tunes of all . By inclination and experience , Johnson identifies with unfulfillment . The preemptive dejection ...
Contents
the Western Islands of Scotland | 234 |
The Lives of the English Poets | 259 |
Johnsons Endings | 295 |
Copyright | |
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