Robert DeMaria Jr. - Böcker

An anthology of the essential and enduring works of Samuel Johnson  Samuel Johnson was eighteenth-century Britain’s preeminent man of letters—moral and literary critic, biographer, lexicographer, and poet—and his influence endures to this day. This anthology, designed to make Johnson’s essential works accessible to students and general readers, draws its texts from the definitive Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson. It includes many essays from The Rambler and other periodicals; Rasselas; the prefaces to Johnson’s Dictionary and his edition of Shakespeare; the complete Lives of Cowley, Milton, Pope, Savage, and Gray, as well as generous selections from A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland.The anthology is organized so that readers can focus on such topics as religion, marriage, war, and literature, and most texts are included in their entirety. The authors provide a biographical introduction and ample annotation to update and enlarge the commentary in the Yale Edition.

If readers of the twentieth century feel overwhelmed by the proliferation of writing and information, they can find in Samuel Johnson a sympathetic companion. Johnson's career coincided with the rapid expansion of publishing in England-not only in English, but in Latin and Greek; not only in books, but in reviews, journals, broadsides, pamphlets, and books about books. In 1753 Johnson imagined a time when "writers will, perhaps, be multiplied, till no readers will be found." Three years later, he wrote that England had become "a nation of authors" in which "every man must be content to read his book to himself." In Samuel Johnson and the Life of Reading, Robert DeMaria considers the surprising influence of one of the greatest readers in English literature. Johnson's relationship to books not only reveals much about his life and times, DeMaria contends, but also provides a dramatic counterpoint to modern reading habits. As a superior practitioner of the craft, Johnson provides a compelling model for how to read-indeed, he provides different models for different kinds of reading.DeMaria shows how Johnson recognized early that not all reading was alike-some requiring intense concentration, some suited for cursory glances, some requiring silence, some best appreciated amid the chatter of a coffeehouse. Considering the remarkable range of Johnson's reading, DeMaria discovers in one extraordinary career a synoptic view of the subject of reading.

Although the Dictionary is primarily a philological work, DeMaria shows how it also serves literary, moral, and educational purposes. By analyzing the content of the 116,000 illustrative quotations used by Johnson, the author illuminates the major themes of the book: knowledge and ignorance, truth and probabiity, learning and education, language, religion, and morality. Johnson's choice of which quotations to include represents his vision of the intellectual landscape.

This definitive edition, the first since 1974, presents all the poetry of Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), including his play, Irene, with detailed, wide-ranging commentary. It has been expertly edited with attention to the extant manuscripts and all relevant printings.The volume includes the entirety of Johnson’s verse in all its generic diversity: including satire, ode, elegy, verse drama, and verse prayer. The poems are presented in their original spelling and punctuation with extensive commentary on their literary background—biblical, classical, and modern—as well as careful explanation of unusual words, allusions to historical figures, and references to contemporary events that appear in the poems. Proceeding chronologically, this edition also situates Johnson’s verse in the context of his life from his early days in Lichfield to his career as an author in London.Unlike all earlier editions, the present offering provides full translations of all the Latin and Greek poems on which Johnson based so much of his English verse. Correspondingly, it provides the English poems which some of his Latin verse translates. Neither in the presentation of the verse nor in the commentary does this edition assume a command of foreign languages: it aims to be useful for all students of Samuel Johnson’s poetry.

This definitive edition, the first since 1974, presents all the poetry of Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), including his play, Irene, with detailed, wide-ranging commentary. It has been expertly edited with attention to the extant manuscripts and all relevant printings.The volume includes the entirety of Johnson’s verse in all its generic diversity: including satire, ode, elegy, verse drama, and verse prayer. The poems are presented in their original spelling and punctuation with extensive commentary on their literary background—biblical, classical, and modern—as well as careful explanation of unusual words, allusions to historical figures, and references to contemporary events that appear in the poems. Proceeding chronologically, this edition also situates Johnson’s verse in the context of his life from his early days in Lichfield to his career as an author in London.Unlike all earlier editions, the present offering provides full translations of all the Latin and Greek poems on which Johnson based so much of his English verse. Correspondingly, it provides the English poems which some of his Latin verse translates. Neither in the presentation of the verse nor in the commentary does this edition assume a command of foreign languages: it aims to be useful for all students of Samuel Johnson’s poetry.

Spanning the period from the British Civil War to the French Revolution, the fourth edition of this successful anthology increases its coverage of canonical writings, plays, and of the development of British Literature in the American colonies. A thoroughly updated new edition of this popular anthology which focuses firmly on the eighteenth century without neglecting the seventeenth centuryContains new texts including the play Rover by Aphra Behn, and Beggars' Opera by John Gay; increased canonical works, including works by Dryden, Pope, and Johnson; and historical contextual materials, with particualr attention to the AmericasFeatures updated introductions throughout, taking into acccount recent critical works and editionsIncludes useful resources such as an alternative list of contents by theme, and a chronolgy of literary and political events, providing valuable historical and cultural context

This anthology presents a selection of works that illustrates the traffic between British poetry and classical literature. Gives readers the classical background they need in order to really appreciate British poetry. Divided into two halves – the first half presenting a selection of the best British poems, and the second presenting relevant classical works in translation. Notes and introductions highlight the connections between British works and their classical forebears.