Regular marked price: $15.98Discount Price: $8.39
Cost Savings: $7.59 (47%)Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Type of bind: Audio Download
Label: audible.com
Manufacturer: audible.com
Publishing house: audible.com
Studio: audible.com
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
A biography of the dominant English literary figure of the 18th century, Samuel Johnson. It tells of his struggles with bouts of apathy and grey despair, his overbearing yet remarkable kindness, and his melancholy contrasted with his liveliness in company.
Amazon.com Review:
James Boswell is for some the ideal scribe, for others a sycophantic toady. Edmund Wilson memorably labeled him 'a vain and pushing diarist.' Boswell can even be seen as someone unconsciously intent on undermining his idol in sonorous, balanced sentences. Early on in his massive Life, he puts all manner of ideas into our heads with his boobish attempts to clear the youthful Johnson of potential impropriety: 'His juvenile attachments to the fair sex were, however, very transient; and it is certain that he formed no criminal connection whatsoever.' And while it's often tempting to ignore Boswell's more personal intrusions and delight solely in the melancholic master's words and deeds, there are delightful admissions as, 'I was at this time so occupied, shall I call it? or so dissipated, by the amusements of London that our subsequent meeting was not till Saturday, June 25...'
Samuel Johnson was born in 1709 and died in 1784--a long life, though one marred by depression and fear of death. On April 20, 1764, for example, he declared, 'I would consent to have a limb amputated to recover my spirits.' Many of the quotes Boswell includes are a sort of greatest hits: Johnson's definitions of oats and lexicographer, his love for his cat Hodge, as well as thousands of bon, and mal, mots. ('Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel'; 'Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprized to find it done at all.') But there are also many unfamiliar pleasures--Boswell's accounts of Johnson's literary industry, including the Dictionary, The Rambler and Lives of the Poets; Johnson's singular loathing for Scotland and France; and the surprising hints of revelry. Awakened at 3 AM by friends, he greets them with, 'What, is it you, you dogs! I'll have a frisk with you.' This at age 42. Johnson's final years were marked by pain and loneliness but certainly no loss of wit.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
-
Note: I made some immature Mormon angry because of my negative reviews of books that attempted to prove the Book of Mormon, and that person has been slamming my reviews almost as fast as they are posted.
I must have really burned him or her because I've deleted this review and re-posted it and within an hour, I had a "not helpful" vote. Give me a break. That person's faith must be very fragile, indeed. Oh, well.
I'm trying to be "helpful," and you can see that it took some work to put this review together.
So, your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks, and I hope you find some enjoyable quotations (below) from Boswell's wonderful book, but very first a little history.
Samuel Johnson, the irascible but generous lexicographer of the eighteenth century, is mostly remembered because of Boswell, and Boswell is remembered because he wrote Johnson's biography.
At the time, Johnson was already famous for his "Dictionary of the English Language," an impressive work for the year 1755. Among many other writings, Johnson put out an edition of Shakespeare's works (1765), with valuable notes that are still referred to today.
Johnson published a "series of grave and moral discourses" in the periodical called the Rambler, but when it was translated into Italian, it came out as the ludicrous "El Vagabondo," something far from Johnson's pious intentions. And of good intentions, it was Johnson who said, "Sir, Hell is paved with good intentions."
"(Johnson's) defense of tea against Mr. Jonas Hanway's violent attack upon that elegant and popular beverage, shows how very well a man of genius can write upon the slightest subject, when he writes, as the Italians say, con amore."
Johnson despised Americans and was prejudiced against Scotland. He said, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel."
Johnson was a male chauvinist. Yet, he was "a king of men." He was a "robust genius, born to grapple with whole libraries," and although "indolence and procrastination were inherent in his constitution, whenever he made an exertion he did more than any one else."
As a person who is afraid of death in the normal sense, I was surprised that in spite of being very religious, Johnson had an extreme fear of death. "'The better a man is, the more afraid he is of death, having a clearer view of infinite purity.' Said Boswell, "Johnson owned, that our being in an unhappy uncertainty as to our salvation, was mysterious; and said, 'Ah! We must wait till we are in another state of being, to have many things explained to us.' Even the powerful mind of Johnson seemed foiled by futurity."
Boswell's commentary brings to mind a story told by St. Augustine in his monumental City of God. A philosopher was abroad a ship captained by a bad man, and after a violent storm, the fearless captain jeered the philosopher for his terror. Said the philosopher, quoting from a similar incident that occurred to the pagan Aristippus, 'A rogue need not worry about losing his worthless life, but Aristippus has a duty to care for a life like his."
"Johnson knew more books than any man alive. He had a peculiar facility in seizing at once what was valuable in any book, without submitting to the labour of perusing it from beginning to end." But he also held that it was important to "read diligently the great book of mankind."
"Why, Sir, I am a man of the world. I live in the world, and I take, in some degree, the colour of the world as it moves along."
Johnson was also the one who said, "When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."
"I love Blair's Sermons," Johnson said. "Though the dog is a Scotchman, and a Presbyterian, and every thing that he should not be, I was the very first to praise them. Such was my candor," he said with a smile."
Rated by buyers -
The Life of Samuel Johnson is the most famous biography ever written in the English language! Its author was the Scottish lawyer James Boswell
(1740-1795). Boswell was an intemperate soul enjoying boozing it up in taverns; whoring and wenching with ladies of the night; gossiping and quarreling with his rich Dad back in Scotland. Boswell was often a widely travelled worldly man who had visited the likes of Voltaire, Rosseau and Paoli the liberator of Corsican independence. Boswell's words allow us to see what eighteenth century London must have been like for the relatively affluent. Boswell only spent around 300 total days with Johnson from the very first time they met in 1763 to the death of the Great Cham in 1784.
I have read the 1300 page complete diary which I recommend. I also recommend that for rereading this Penguin Abridged Edition will do just fine. In it you will find such quotes by Johnson as "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"; "Patriotism is the last refuge of a coward.:;
"We shall receive no letters in the grave." and countless philippics against the United States of America and Scotland.
Dr. Samuel Johnson was born in Lichfield near Birmingham, England in 1709. He was best noted in his lifetime for his monumental work, "A Dictionary of the English Language." He also wrote plays, essays and newspaper columns. Among his friends were the painter Sir Joshua Reynolds, authors Oliver Goldsmith and Colley Ciber and the famous Shakespearean actor David Garrick. Johnson was clubbable soul who had a cat named Hodge; had poor eyesight and was the widower of a much older woman. He had no children. Johnson was a devout Christian adherent of the Church of England, a monarchist and a rabid Tory. He had many prejudices and was not tacit in expressing them aloud.
Anyone who expects this famed biography to be a strict life following Johnson from cradle to grave will be disappointed. Instead it is poorly organized consisting of meetings between Johnson and Boswell over the years of their long friendship. It is a great book because of its quotablility and the quirky genius seen in the complex figure of Samuel Johnson. Boswell was also an author of genius whose detailed eye gives us a fascinating glimpse into a different age. This book is one of the essentials of English Literature.
Rated by buyers 
-
I liked this but prefer the unabridged edition published by Oxford University Press (in their Oxford World's Classics series). If you're willing to read Boswell, spend a few dollars more for the OUP edition.
Rated by buyers -
Typically, I have a bias against abridged editions of literary works. Nevertheless, prudent editing and abridgement enhances the casual reader's appreciation of this literary tome. Undergraduates working a required reading list for English Lit classes are on their own. Anyway, Samuel Johnson was a noted author and editor of the 18th century English literary scene. Instead of an exhaustive study of Johnson's life as author and editor, biographer Boswell compiled a series of anecdotes, quotations, and correspondence that is held together by his friendship with Johnson. Boswell's purpose was to capture the essence of the man. Johnson was adept at articulating pithy remarks with surgical precision. For example, "...a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprized to find it done at all." The 18th century spellings, etc. remain intact. We have Johnson to thank for the familiar "...hell is paved with good intentions," and "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." Boswell takes care to portray Johnson as sexually moral. After the death of his wife, Johnson (according to Boswell) was apparently celibate. Johnson rebuffed "women of the town," and said he wasn't interested in their carnal delights. Johnson told David Garrick, the actor, that he would not go backstage at the theater because "the white bubbies and silk stockings of your Actresses excite my genitals." As an interesting aside, the editor's introduction speculates that Johnson's relationship with the widow Thrale may have been sexual, with bondage overtones. Who knows? The description of London coffeehouses, theaters, and gathering places are heavy with 18th century atmosphere. Bottom line, reading this book is interesting as a curiosity. Its relevance for 21st century readers may seem limited, but don't let that stop you from sampling the fare. ;-)
Rated by buyers 
-
This is an abridged version. If you want an unabridged version, get the Life of Johnson (Oxford World's Classics) [UNABRIDGED.
Find other books like this one:
