Description
Book SynopsisNew Essays on Samuel Johnson: Revaluation is a collection of essays by various hands that examines its point of focus, the inexhaustible English author Samuel Johnson, from a variety of different critical perspectives. The book also simultaneously interrogates particular texts (such as the Dictionary, the Lives of the Poets) alongside general themes (such as Johnson and intertextuality, Johnson and autobiography). The word “revaluation” from the title connotes both the deployment of specifically au courant approaches—viewing, for example, Johnson in relation to climate change, or Johnson and the notion of “osmology”—as well as more general reflections upon Johnson’s importance to our present cultural and temporal moment.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Illustrations Short Titles Preface I. Re-Reading Specific Texts 1. The Values of Annotation: Reading Johnson Reading Shakespeare Lynda Mugglestone 2. No Poem an Island: Utopian Intertextuality in London, A Poem Anthony W. Lee 3. “Pleasure or Weariness”: Additions to and Exclusions from the Lives of the Poets Adam Rounce 4. Dr. Johnson at Prayer: Consolation Philosophy in The Prayers and Meditations Katherine Kickel 5. Samuel Johnson and Taxation No Tyranny: “I am willing to love all mankind, except an American.” Thomas Curley II. Re-Mapping Larger Themes and Issues 6. Sustainability Johnson John Sitter 7. Samuel Johnson as Heterodox Critic and Poet John Richetti 8. Playing Rough: Johnson and Children Greg Clingham 9. Samuel Johnson and Autobiography: Reflection, Ambivalence, and “Split Intentionality” Steven Scherwatzky 10. Considering Johnson’s “Nose of the Mind” and Mind’s Nose: Olfaction Deployed and Suppressed in the “Age of Johnson” Emily C. Friedman 11. “Try to Resolve Again”: Johnson and the Written Art of Everyday Life Paul Tankard Bibliography Biographical List of Contributors Index
