Two Views on Boswell
The two opinions below discuss the validity and usefulness of Boswell's Life of Johnson. The first view, agreeing with modern anti-Boswell sentiments, is written by Cris Bier. The second, agreeing with modern pro-Boswell sentiments, is by Bob Davis.
========================== research2 #9 from cbier, Tue Apr 26 12:59:08 1994 -------------------------TITLE: Complaint against Boswell
This comment is from Twentieth Century Interpretations Boswell's Life of Johnson, p. 103, from an essay by Donald J. Greene.
My complaint against Boswell, is that he has only too skillfully given his public what they--and Boswell--wanted: instead of the disturbing reality that was Samuel Johnson, a cosy, 'lovable,' predictable, forgivable, and ultimately 'safe' figure, the 'dear old Doctor Johnson' of the Toby mugs, the churchwarden pipes, and the Cheshire Cheese (with none of which there is the slightest evidence that the real Johnson ever had any contact). It is no wonder that men with incisive minds from Blake to H. L. Mencken, no wonder that the brighter college students, have detested him--Boswell's Johnson, the 'great Clubman' (F.R. Leavis's epithet), not the real Johnson, the 'great highbrow,' whom they don't know, but would respect if they did.This passage moved me. I could not figure why I disliked Johnson, besides my view of him as pompous, critical, and over-bearing to all comers. I felt that if I met him today that I would be totally intimidated. However, after extensive research for my final paper, I view Johnson in a whole new light, as well as Boswell. I dislike Boswell for giving me an arrogant Johnson and not the full man as I had expected. Johnson's writings, and his view of writing, prove him to be very sensitive to his own feelings and those of others. But all I can picture from Boswell is the pistol- whip rebuke that silences everyone, that Johnson throws out to end, and win, an argument. My final paper will focus upon Johnson's view of literature, why he may have approved of Boswell's journals and biography, and how this fit in perfectly with the firm frame that he led his life by and in.
========================== research #10, from rdavis, Wed Apr 27 15:13:42 1994 --------------------------TITLE: A response to Boswell's Johnson
In The Life of Johnson, Boswell clearly used his intimate friendship with Johnson to create a lasting portrait of the eighteenth century's great moralist. If Boswell created a biography that was a simple narration or even chronology of the events that made up Sam Johnson's life, then he would have failed miserably. Even Johnson realized that the true value of biography was in the relating of the true nature of the hero and not simply in the hero's accomplishments. Johnson acknowledged this distinction in The Rambler No. 60:
They [biographers] rarely afford any other account than might be collated from public papers, but imagine themselves writing a life when they exhibit a chronological series of actions or preferments; and so little regard the manners or behavior of their heros, that more knowledge may be gained of a man's real character by a short conversation with one of his servants, than from a formal and studied narrative, begun with his pedigree, and ended with his funeral. (Brady, 84)In The Life of Johnson, Boswell constructed a biography of Johnson with Johnson's own concept of what a good biography should consist of. Boswell did not simply list or narrate the events that made up Sam Johnson's life. Instead, Boswell gave his own remarkable insight into the nature and mind of Samuel Johnson. Of course, in order for Boswell to accomplish this task a certain degree of embellishment on his part was necessary. I agree that Boswell's portrait of Johnson is somewhat tainted, but The Life of Johnson is James Boswell's interpretation of the nature of Sam Johnson. Although Boswell only portrayed Johnson in a favorable light, his biography is a valuable portrait of the eighteenth century's great moralist. Boswell's approach forces the reader of The Life of Johnson to concentrate on the character and mind of the man rather than the events that made up his life.
In conclusion, Boswell's portrayal of Johnson's nature rather than his accomplishments leads this twentieth-century reader to an understanding of biography in eighteenth-century England. Johnson said it best in The Rambler No. 60 when he said, "If we owe regard to the memory of the dead, there is yet more respect to be paid to knowledge, to virtue, and to truth" (Brady,185). The eighteenth-century biographer was not interested in simply recording the accomplishments of the deceased. The good biographer was much more concerned with examining the mind and nature of the deceased hero, and using it to advance learning and morality in the eighteenth century.
Thoughts on eighteenth-century authorship, chiefly concerned with Samuel Johnson
Two Views on Boswell
Authors are like Bakers
Correspondence
Thoughts on eighteenth-century authorship, chiefly concerned with Mary
Miscellaneous Research
Introduction