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Life of Johnson, Vol 4
Book by Boswell, James
Paperback
First published December 1, 2003
24 people want to read
About the author
James Boswell
1,610 books106 followersJames Boswell, 10th Laird of Auchinleck and 1st Baronet was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the eldest son of a judge, Alexander Boswell, 8th Laird of Auchinleck and his wife Euphemia Erskine, Lady Auchinleck. Boswell's mother was a strict Calvinist, and he felt that his father was cold to him. Boswell, who is best known as Samuel Johnson’s biographer, inherited his father’s estate Auchinleck in Ayrshire. His name has passed into the English language as a term (Boswell, Boswellian, Boswellism) for a constant companion and observer.
Boswell is also known for the detailed and frank journals that he wrote for long periods of his life, which remained undiscovered until the 1920s. These included voluminous notes on the grand tour of Europe that he took as a young nobleman and, subsequently, of his tour of Scotland with Johnson. His journals also record meetings and conversations with eminent individuals belonging to The Club, including Lord Monboddo, David Garrick, Edmund Burke, Joshua Reynolds and Oliver Goldsmith. His written works focus chiefly on others, but he was admitted as a good companion and accomplished conversationalist in his own right.
Boswell is also known for the detailed and frank journals that he wrote for long periods of his life, which remained undiscovered until the 1920s. These included voluminous notes on the grand tour of Europe that he took as a young nobleman and, subsequently, of his tour of Scotland with Johnson. His journals also record meetings and conversations with eminent individuals belonging to The Club, including Lord Monboddo, David Garrick, Edmund Burke, Joshua Reynolds and Oliver Goldsmith. His written works focus chiefly on others, but he was admitted as a good companion and accomplished conversationalist in his own right.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 26, 2015
This volume covers the last 4 years of Johnson's life and his passing. By this time Johnson's major works have all been written, so it is primarily a collection of conversations and letters.
Much of the material is of a very meloncholy nature. Johnson is in his 70s, ad many of his friends and peers have already passed on. Johnson laments the passing of hos friends, and ponders his own mortality.
Much of the material is of a very meloncholy nature. Johnson is in his 70s, ad many of his friends and peers have already passed on. Johnson laments the passing of hos friends, and ponders his own mortality.
October 15, 2013
So sorry to read the last of Johnson's conversation. As one of his friends says:
'He has made a chasm which not only nothing can fill up, but which nothing has a tendency to fill up. Johnson is dead let us go to the next best:—there is nobody; no man can be said to put you in mind of Johnson.'
'He has made a chasm which not only nothing can fill up, but which nothing has a tendency to fill up. Johnson is dead let us go to the next best:—there is nobody; no man can be said to put you in mind of Johnson.'
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews