The Samuel Johnson Encyclopedia - Hardcover

by Pat Rogers (Author)

This is the first-ever attempt to present all the significant facts about Samuel Johnson in a single volume. The 650 alphabetically arranged entries cover every aspect of Johnson's life, career, and personality. The volume describes each of his works in detail, examining such matters as composition, publication, and reception. It gives up-to-date accounts of his attitude on key themes and concepts and explores his central ideas on literary, moral, political, social, and religious questions. It provides biographies of all persons with whom Johnson had any sort of real contact and gives a detailed picture of the Club and its members. This is a one-stop aid that will enable students and readers of Johnson to locate almost any fact about him quickly and easily.

Samuel Johnson was one of the most important literary figures of the 18th century, which was sometimes known as the Age of Johnson. He authored a pioneering dictionary of the English language, edited Shakespeare, composed poetry and drama, and wrote numerous prose works on moral, philosophical, religious, political, and domestic concerns. Immortalized through Boswell's biography, he is as well-known for his traits and habits (including his witty and combative manner of conversation) as for his prodigious achievements in the world of letters. This encyclopedia is a comprehensive guide to Johnson and his milieu.

This pioneering volume contains more than 650 alphabetically arranged entries on every aspect of Johnson's life, career, and personality. It describes each of his works in detail, examining such matters as composition, publication, and reception. It gives up-to-date accounts of his attitude on key themes and concepts, and explores his central ideas on literary, moral, political, social, and religious questions. It provides biographies of all the persons with whom Johnson had any sort of real contact, ranging from his close friends in the world of the arts and publishing, to his domestic intimates and servants, his extended family, and even his cat. A full system of cross-referencing allows readers to locate subjects and entries with ease. This is a one-stop aid which will enable students and readers of Johnson to locate almost any fact about him quickly and easily, and will provide guidance for any more detailed research which may be called for.

Author Biography

PAT ROGERS is DeBartolo Chair in the Liberal Arts at the University of South Florida. He is the author of more than 200 articles, and his books include Grub Street (1972), The Augustan Vision (1974), Literature and Popular Culture in Eighteenth-Century England (1985), The Oxford Illustrated History of English Literature (1987), the Blackwell Companion to the Enlightenment (1992), Johnson (1993), Essays on Pope (1993), and Johnson and Boswell: The Transit of Caledonia(1995). He is the former president of the Johnson Society of Lichfield, and of the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies.