Reviews

A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides by Samuel Johnson, James Boswell

snakat1974's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative

4.75

Naturally wonderful and exceedingly enjoyable. I found myself slightly more involved in Johnson's account, perhaps because I had just recently experienced Life of Johnson, where Boswell's style is employed for grander and more ambitious purposes. 
The notes of Peter Levi's edition left something to be desired - it was not nearly as thorough as the editing in the Penguin edition of Life of Johnson, and frequently Levi declined to translate the Latin, deeming it not worthy of translation (I'd like to be the judge of that!) or giving it a small summary. 

chairmanbernanke's review against another edition

4.0

Two unique stories of travel. Helpful to see both perspectives here.

readingoverbreathing's review against another edition

3.0

"I am, I flatter myself, completely a citizen of the world."

I honestly, though I've spent months reading this, don't have many thoughts to share on this book, one I was supposed to have read for my first-year English course. To be honest, I think unless you're familiar with the geography Johnson and Boswell explore, this book is honestly rather uninteresting. (I loved reading the St Andrews part, but that lasted about three pages.) I'm glad we have it as historical documentation, but I don't think it offers up much in terms of pleasure reading. I also found Johnson incredibly arrogant and rude in Boswell's depiction of him, which I absolutely do not think was the latter's intention; Johnson has a kind of superior disregard for the people and places they encounter that I was not a fan of.

I'm still not sure how this made it on the reading list for that course, as I'm honestly not sure it has much to contribute literarily; however, at least I can make that statement in full fact now that I've actually sat down and read the whole thing.

inkymouse's review against another edition

adventurous informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

foulone's review against another edition

2.0

Finally finally finished. This book has been the bane of my life for too long. Didn't really enjoy Johnson's account, but Boswell's was tongue-in-cheek enough to keep me going.
Part one: 1/5 part 2: 3/5 overall: 2/5

jcampbell's review against another edition

lighthearted slow-paced

3.0

Johnson’s book is a short standard travel book and Boswell talks extensively about Johnson on their travels. Boswell quotes a lot of Latin and discusses theology which makes it quite disintresting in places. 

dexterw's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

4.5

grubstlodger's review against another edition

3.0

In 1773, a Sixty-two (nearly three) year old Johnson and a thirty-odd year old Boswell went on a trip they had been playfully imagining for ten years, up to the Hebrides in an effort to see what was left of the old Highland way of life. Both of them wrote a book - Johnson’s came first.

In many ways, it’s a traditional travel book, with Johnson describing the key features on the way and often measuring them. He then makes his conclusions and opinions on what he sees and hears. The book is arranged by location, with the odd gallimaufry of discussion and opinion in various parts.

I always enjoy a bit of Johnson, and swimming through his lengthy sentences and sometimes unusual word choice (conglobulated anyone?) was like stepping into a warm bath. Discussing things as inconsequential as scenery with Johnson makes this quite a relaxing book to read but there is a well-spring of anger just underneath. Famous for being disparaging to Scots and Scotland, he quickly finds himself warmed (if not always inspired) by the people’s company and flattered by their welcome. His disgust at how parts of Scotland are then not looked after or developed then shine through the text - not a disgust at the people, but in how they are being let down by their leaders. This disgust comes through his frequent astonishment at the lack of trees, the poor quality of the housing and the huge swathes of people emigrating to America. The Highland Clearances are under way and there is many a deserted village.

There is also the quality that has him called a ‘secret papist’. His dismayed reaction to the seemingly endless array of destroyed churches that he sarcastically describes as ‘a triumph of reformation.’ Not, I think, out of any real Catholic sensibility, but more from a general reverence for churches and holy land. His paragraphs about the ruined Abbey on Iona are worthy of the praise Boswell gave them in his own book.

Johnson has a few daydreams, of Macbeth and the witches, of owning his own island, of the existence of a recently past feudal society but he mainly stays in description mode and mainly stays neutral. Things liven up a little when he discusses the power of second sight, of which he says, “I could never advance my credibility to conviction; but came away at last only willing to believe.” - rather like his opinion on ghosts. I also enjoyed his description of his ungainly body on a Shetland pony and the fact he called a single beef cow a ‘beef’, and a group of them, ‘beeves’. (Which it turns out is legit, howabouthat?)

This isn’t prime Johnson, but it is Johnson and so was worth reading… (re-reading, maybe not).



Where Johnson talked about Scotland, Boswell talked about Johnson.

Written up from his journal of the trip, Bozzy published the book to test the waters and try out the style of his proposed Johnson biography, there’s lots of conversation and little details that would have been lost to time otherwise.

This book is arranged by date and is far less interested in what they saw in Scotland as much as it is about Johnson’s reactions to it. Partly this is because of Boswell’s admitted inability to describe how things look in much detail - he is, however, an expert in relating how people chat. Johnson talks to Boswell, to Lairds, to Ladies, to judges, to soldiers, to reverends, to old women living in mud huts - to all sorts of people. There is a lot of talk.

Among other things, we learn that Johnson had read Castiglione’s ‘The Courtier’, that Johnson had ‘often’ imagined what sort of seraglio he might run and had considered how would fight a big dog, that Boswell had once been encored for making a cow noise in Drury Lane, and that Johnson was pretty good on a horse - if it was a decent size.

I also enjoyed the amount of teasing in the book. Boswell teased Johnson on the old lady who thought Johnson’s question of ‘where do you sleep?’ was a come on. Johnson teased Boswell for staying up to drink one or six bowl of punch. They take turns teasing each other over which of them is the wenching ‘young buck’ and which the civilising influence and at night, often share a room and have private conversations in Latin so their discussion wouldn’t be understood through thin walls.

Boswell presents everything as a fun, jolly, adventure - and I’m sure, when it was over, it was. There are times of fear though, when they took the boat to Col in particular. There is also the sense that Boswell has to go before Johnson, smoothing his way and palliating his rudeness to others, all without him noticing. Johnson prides himself on being adaptable and self-sufficient, and the idea that he needs Boswell to do this would have been of great injury to his pride.

There is also the sense that Boswell sees himself as made greater by this adventure tying him closer to Johnson’s ‘brand’. There are moments in the book that are painfully, toe-curlingly, embarrassingly, Boswellian. Especially the footnotes from the third edition which he uses to namedrop and argue little points against other Johnsonians.

I found the book took longer to read than I expected, and there was some repetition in the structure of ‘go somewhere, talk’. That said, I found out things about the two of them I hadn’t known, also, of it were not for this journey and this book then Boswell’s ‘Life of Johnson’ may never have been. So it’s worth celebrating for that alone.

caterpillarnotebooks's review against another edition

mmm samuel johnson? bit of an asshole!

pixieauthoress's review against another edition

2.0

Read for:
EN1004: Explorers and Revolutionaries - Literature 1680-1830

This had some interesting comments about Scotland, and I particularly found the section on St. Andrews ironic considering that I'm currently studying at the university that he says will soon crumble into ruin. But other than that, there wasn't a lot in this book that appealed to me. If you're looking for an outsider's opinion on Scotland in the eighteenth century, this is your book. I'm sure it would be fascinating from a historical perspective. But considering I'm an English Literature student, I didn't exactly find this engaging. Although I will admit that I'm quite proud of my comparative essay on the use of language in this book and Austen's [b:Northanger Abbey|50398|Northanger Abbey|Jane Austen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170368862s/50398.jpg|4039699]! Overall, interesting historically and linguistically but not exactly a book you'll keep reading under the covers with a flashlight because you want to know what happens on the next page. 4/10