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A review by michael5000
The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell
3.0
So, sure, to a certain extent this is a fawning portrait of an old windbag by his adoring fanboy. And, it must be said that the sparkling wit often does not live up to its reputation. On the other hand, old windbags are people too, and after a few hundred pages you start to develop some affection for ol' Sam Johnson, and Bosworth, and especially for their pal Sir Joshua Reynolds, the famous painter, who clearly had the patience of Job to put up with them over the years.
If nothing else, it's a great window into the 18th century. Towards the end of Johnson's life, for example, everyone is clearly all a'buzz about the newly invented passenger balloon; Boswell takes for granted that his readers will remember when balloons were the sensation of the day, which makes their intrusion into his story that much more striking from this remove. (Johnson, characteristically, thinks that all the fuss about this newfangled "flight" is foolish, since people have always been able to climb mountains if they wanted to see what things were like at higher elevations.)
It is, to be sure, rather dull reading. And yet something kept me on task through all 619 pages.
If nothing else, it's a great window into the 18th century. Towards the end of Johnson's life, for example, everyone is clearly all a'buzz about the newly invented passenger balloon; Boswell takes for granted that his readers will remember when balloons were the sensation of the day, which makes their intrusion into his story that much more striking from this remove. (Johnson, characteristically, thinks that all the fuss about this newfangled "flight" is foolish, since people have always been able to climb mountains if they wanted to see what things were like at higher elevations.)
It is, to be sure, rather dull reading. And yet something kept me on task through all 619 pages.