Samuel Johnson and the Life of Reading

by Robert DeMaria Jr.

Overview

The surprising influence of one of the greatest readers in English literature.

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801896521
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	04/21/1997
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robert DeMaria Jr. is the Henry Noble MacCracken Professor of English Literature at Vassar College. His books include The Life of Samuel Johnson, Johnson's Dictionary and the Language of Learning, and British Literature 1640-1789: An Anthology.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
1. The Life of Reading
2. Notes and Marginalia
3. Study
4. Perusal
5. Mere Reading
6. Curious Reading
7. Samuel Johnson and the Future of Reading
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

This book's strong and original starting point is to study Samuel Johnson through his activity as a reader, not as a writer. By looking at Johnson as a representative and influential reader, DeMaria helps us to understand not only one author but the history of reading itself. No one can read this book without learning a great deal about practices of reading and how they change from one age to the next.
—Lawrence Lipking, Northwestern University

Lawrence Lipking

This book's strong and original starting point is to study Samuel Johnson through his activity as a reader, not as a writer. By looking at Johnson as a representative and influential reader, DeMaria helps us to understand not only one author but the history of reading itself. No one can read this book without learning a great deal about practices of reading and how they change from one age to the next.

— Lawrence Lipking, Northwestern University

Editorial Reviews

Explores the 18th-century English writer's relationship to books, and describes the models he developed for reading different works that are still compelling today. Considers his notes and marginalia, concentrated study, perusal, mere reading, curious reading, and what Johnson can contribute to the future of reading. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Booknews

Enacts Johnson's celebrated variation on a theme from Horace—it does not merely delight and instruct, but rather instructs by delighting us . . . DeMaria proves himself a reader altogether worthy of his subject.
—Times Literary Supplement

Fascinatingly perceptive both of Johnson's own reading habits and of their significance in the cultural history of reading.
—Allan Ingram, Modern Language Review

Both a scholarly and an imaginative achievement, combining detailed detective work, abstract categorization, and sympathetic understanding. The finished product re-creates the detailed fabric of Johnson's reading career while locating it in a cultural landscape of rapid publication and growing literacy . . . Eminently readable, learned, and thoughtful.
—Helen Deutsch, Modern Philology

An intellectual history of the writer and his age.
—Joseph Rosenblum, Magill's Literary Annual

DeMaria presents an imaginative re-creation of Johnson's library and suggests how his reading habits offered a model for preventing the disappearance of the reader.
—Biblio

From the Publisher

DeMaria presents an imaginative re-creation of Johnson's library and suggests how his reading habits offered a model for preventing the disappearance of the reader.

Biblio

Fascinatingly perceptive both of Johnson's own reading habits and of their significance in the cultural history of reading.

Modern Language Review - Allan Ingram

Both a scholarly and an imaginative achievement, combining detailed detective work, abstract categorization, and sympathetic understanding. The finished product re-creates the detailed fabric of Johnson's reading career while locating it in a cultural landscape of rapid publication and growing literacy . . . Eminently readable, learned, and thoughtful.

Modern Philology - Helen Deutsch

An intellectual history of the writer and his age.

Magill's Literary Annual - Joseph Rosenblum

Enacts Johnson's celebrated variation on a theme from Horace—it does not merely delight and instruct, but rather instructs by delighting us . . . DeMaria proves himself a reader altogether worthy of his subject.

Times Literary Supplement