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A review by smardiros
The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell
4.0
A quite extraordinary book. More of a portrait of a friendship than that of a man. One is granted an extraordinary perspective into a unique relationship — the wit and the sycophant, the considerate and the callous — and through this relationship, a vision of the period. It's quite enlightening to read the dinner table conversation in London regarding the American Revolution, slavery, and class.
As to the subjects of the books? In general I find Boswell's pettiness and egocentricity quite unappealing, except in the purity of his vast admiration for Johnson. Johnson himself is a stranger fish to categorize. He's a contrarian philosopher who toadies to authority, a strong believer in an unequal society and class who pays as much, if not more respect to manual laborers and craftsmen than to his peers. He strongly opposes the American Revolution but believes slavery to be fundamentally monstrous and unjust — these two go hand-in-hand for him, as he considers the American battle for freedom to be fundamentally hypocritical. In the general, he is bigoted, inconsiderate, classist, sexist, obnoxious; in the specific, he is considerate, kind, apologetic generous. I don't think I like Johnson, but I can understand why his friends valued him.
As to the subjects of the books? In general I find Boswell's pettiness and egocentricity quite unappealing, except in the purity of his vast admiration for Johnson. Johnson himself is a stranger fish to categorize. He's a contrarian philosopher who toadies to authority, a strong believer in an unequal society and class who pays as much, if not more respect to manual laborers and craftsmen than to his peers. He strongly opposes the American Revolution but believes slavery to be fundamentally monstrous and unjust — these two go hand-in-hand for him, as he considers the American battle for freedom to be fundamentally hypocritical. In the general, he is bigoted, inconsiderate, classist, sexist, obnoxious; in the specific, he is considerate, kind, apologetic generous. I don't think I like Johnson, but I can understand why his friends valued him.