Samuel Johnson

Johnson, Samuel 

Born Sept. 18, 1709, in Lichfield; died Dec. 13, 1784, in London. English critic, lexicographer, essayist, and poet.

In his philosophical novella Rasselas (1759; Russian translation, 1795), Johnson explores the dichotomy between the pursuit of happiness and the possibility of its actual attainment. His Dictionary of the English Language (1755) was a valuable addition to linguistic studies of the period. His foreword to an edition of Shakespeare (1765) and his book Lives of the English Poets (1779-81) were important contributions to the development of English literary criticism. His friend J. Boswell colorfully depicted Johnson in The Life of Samuel Johnson (1792).

WORKS

The Works, vols. 1-12. London, 1801.
Works, vols. 1-16. New York, 1903.
A Dictionary of the English Language, new edition. London, 1883. Lives of the English Poets, vols. 1-2. London-Toronto-New York [1925].

REFERENCES

Istoriia angliiskoi literdtury, vol. 1, issue 2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1945.
Boswell, J. The Life of Samuel Johnson, vols. 1-3. London, 1938.
Bate, W. J. Achievement of SamuelJohnson. New York, 1955.
Courtney, W. P. A Bibliography of Samuel Johnson. Oxford, 1925.