Samuel Johnson and the Art of Sinking 1709-1791

284 Pages·2005·1.94 MB·English

by  Freya Johnston

Samuel Johnson
and the Art of Sinking
1709–1791
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Samuel Johnson
and the Art of Sinking
1709–1791
FREYA JOHNSTON
1
1
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Acknowledgements
Part of my introduction and the last paragraphs of Chapter1 have
been published together as one section of ‘Little Lives: An Eighteenth-
Century Sub-Genre’, in Cambridge Quarterly, 32 (2003), 143–60. Part
of Chapter3 first appeared as ‘Diminutive Observations in Johnson’s
Journeyto the Western IslandsofScotland’,in Age of Johnson,12 (2001),
1–16.TheconcludingparagraphsofChapter4werepublishedas‘Samuel
JohnsonandRobertLevet’,inModernLanguageReview,97(2002),26–35.
None of these is reproduced exactly, but I am grateful in all cases for
permissiontoreprint.
Thanks are long overdue to the colleges of Cambridge University in
whichtheworkforthisbookwascarriedout—Trinity,Newnham,and
Christ’s.Ialsowanttothankeveryonewhoprovidedhelp,criticism,or
information,particularlythosewhocommentedondifferentsectionsof
the book at various stages: the three anonymous readers of my initial
proposal and draft chapters; Matthew Bevis, Cathal Dowling, Howard
Erskine-Hill, Sophie Goldsworthy, Mina Gorji, Nicholas Hallam, Paul
Korshin, Fred Parker, Tom Perridge, Clare Pettitt, Jackie Pritchard,
Elizabeth Prochaska, Claude Rawson, Felicity Rosslyn, Dale Thatcher,
JessicaThatcher,andFrancesWhistler.Onlytheerrorsareentirelymine.
This book is partly about teaching. I hope it answers some of the
questions about Johnson and the eighteenth century that my students
haveraisedoverthepastfewyears.Mygreatestdebtistomybestteacher,
EricGriffiths.
F.J.
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Contents
NoteonTextsandShortTitles xi
Introduction 1
1. InclusionandExclusion 21
1. ‘Ladies,Iamtame;youmaystrokeme’ 28
2. TypesandIndividuals 35
3. Catalogues 46
4. TheGeneralandtheParticular 57
2. ‘VoluntaryDegradation’:Johnson’sPrefacesand
Dedications 69
1. Humility 75
2. EnlargingTrifles 94
3. PerpetuatingEphemera 108
4. Patronage 117
3. DiminishingReturns:AJourneytotheWesternIslandsof
Scotland 126
1. TheCategoryoftheDiminutive 141
2. Elegance 150
3. TheRhetoricofDiminution:Litotes 165
4. AScottishSavage 172
4. StoopingtoConquer:JohnsonianBiography 182
1. TheLivesofthePoets 194
2. PaltryCircumstances 202
3. CorrectiveReadings:PopeandBlackmore,Miltonand
Watts 215
4. DrJohnsonandDrLevet:TheLikenessofMen 231
Bibliography:WorksCited 243
Index 257