The Life of Samuel Johnson

This book is considered by many to be the finest literary biography ever published. Samuel Johnson was the leading literary scholar and critic of his age, helping to define the Augustan Age of English Literature. He is as celebrated for his brilliant conversation as he is for his writing. He began contributing to London magazine around 1737 on literary and political subjects. Johnson's place in history and literature was assured with the publication of his Dictionary of the English Language, the first comprehensive English lexicography. In 1763 Johnson met James Boswell and, by 1791, The Life of Samuel Johnson appeared. Boswell recorded Johnson's conversation so minutely that Johnson is better remembered today for his sayings than for his own literary work. His biography is generally regarded as one of the greatest in the language.