Samuel Johnson

He 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."A book about the life of an author, about how an author is made, not born, Lipking's Samuel Johnson is the story of the man as he lived--and lives--in his work. Tracing Johnson's rocky climb from anonymity to fame, in the course of which he came to stand for both the greatness of English literature and the good sense of the common reader, the book shows how this life transformed the very nature of authorship.Beginning with the defiant letter to Chesterfield that made Johnson a celebrity, Samuel Johnson offers fresh readings of all the writer's major works, viewed through the lens of two ongoing preoccupations: the urge to do great deeds--and the sense that bold expectations are doomed to disappointment. Johnson steers between the twin perils of ambition and despondency. Mounting a challenge to the emerging industry that glorified and capitalized on Shakespeare, he stresses instead the playwright's power to cure the illusions of everyday life. All Johnson's works reveal his extraordinary sympathy with ordinary people. In his groundbreaking Dictionary, in his poems and essays, and in The Lives of the English Poets, we see Johnson becoming the key figure in the culture of literacy that reaches from his day to our own.

Lipking’s story is of how Johnson made professional authorship respectable. Before him, a gentleman disdained the seamy business of selling writing. After him, it became a virtuous necessity., In Samuel Johnson, [Lipking] eschews the traditional approaches to biographical study, focusing instead on Johnson’s works as a means of revealing not just the man’s character and literary philosophy but also his attitude toward the authorial profession and the role of the writer in society… Samuel Johnson makes a convincing case for studying the works rather than biographical facts to shed light on Johnson the writer, and Lipking amply demonstrates that this man—talented, ambitious, yet constantly struggling against depression and oppression—not only developed a singular identity but also came to epitomize what it meant to be an author., Lawrence Lipking is a distinguished scholar and critic and his approach to authorship provides him with an opportunity to analyze and comment upon Johnson’s texts… [T]he chapters…provide new insights and are all written thoughtfully and gracefully. The volume provides a valuable approach to Johnson’s works, one that supplements biographical studies., A lively reappraisal of Johnson, the giant of Grub Street, that reduces his classic stature and makes him more approachable., First, this will be a biography concentrating on its hero’s writings and career—no anecdotes about Johnson and his wife on horseback. Second, it is to be an exemplary biography, in showing that Johnson may stand as the type of the author. Third, ‘the life of an author’ rings out as Johnson’s own phrase. Lipking avails himself of it in the conviction that the literature of the past should prompt not griping but gratitude… Then, in straightforward and compelling sequence, [he] attends to the supreme achievements… Lipking is scrupulous in citing Johnson scholars (this is a modest book as well as one that takes pride in its work), while his relations are his own.

Lawrence Lipking is Chester D. Tripp Professor of Humanities at Northwestern University.