Essays from the Rambler, Adventurer, and IdlerThis selection of the cream of the writing from Volumes II-V of the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson fills the largest remaining gap in easily available eighteenth-century texts for the student and general reader. The edition provides in popular form the amplest selection available of Johnson’s essays, ranging from his great moral pieces to the valuable essays on literary criticisms. The text is that of the authoritative Yale Edition and includes full annotation. An introduction by W.J. Bate provides a concise summary of the publication history of the essays and probes in detail the moral vision that pervades most of them. Mr. Bate is Lowell Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University and joint editor of Volumes II-V of the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson. |
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User Review - ostrom - LibraryThingThere's nothing quite like a Sam Johnson essay--chiseled, Latinate marble. Many of them he wrote in one draft when he was up against a deadline because of procrastination. He was ornery and scary-smart. The balanced, periodic rhetorical style is a joy. Read full review
Contents
No 4 The modern form of romances preferable to | 9 |
No 6 Happiness not local | 15 |
No 41 The advantages of memory | 16 |
No 8 The thoughts to be brought under regulation | 21 |
No 9 The fondness of every man for his profession | 27 |
No 14 The difference between an authors writings | 38 |
No 16 The dangers and miseries of a literary eminence | 44 |
No 196 Human opinions mutable The hopes of youth | 45 |
No 207 The folly of continuing too long upon the stage | 226 |
THE ADVENTURER | 231 |
From No 45 The difficulty of forming confederacies | 233 |
From No 50 On lying | 236 |
No 84 Folly of false pretenses to importance A journey in a stage coach | 240 |
No 95 Apology for apparent plagiarism Sources of literary variety | 244 |
No 107 Different opinions equally plausible | 250 |
No 111 The pleasures and advantages of industry | 255 |
No 17 The frequent contemplation of death necessary | 50 |
From No 24 The necessity of attending to the duties | 56 |
From No 28 The various arts of selfdelusion | 64 |
fallacious 221 | 73 |
No 45 The causes of disagreement in marriage | 92 |
No 47 The proper means of alleviating sorrow | 98 |
No 49 A disquisition upon the value of fame | 103 |
No 60 The dignity and usefulness of biography | 109 |
From No 63 Inconstancy not always a weakness | 114 |
From No 64 The requisites to true friendship | 116 |
No 71 No man believes that his own life will be short | 118 |
No 72 The necessity of good humour | 123 |
No 73 The lingering expectation of an heir | 128 |
No 76 The arts by which bad men are reconciled to themselves | 134 |
No 79 A suspicious man justly suspected | 138 |
From No 85 The mischiefs of total idleness | 143 |
From No 87 The reasons why advice is generally inef fectual | 145 |
No 9o The pauses in English poetry adjusted | 149 |
No 93 The prejudices and caprices of criticism | 156 |
No 101 A proper audience necessary to a wit | 161 |
From No 106 The vanity of an authors expectations Reasons why good authors are sometimes neglected | 166 |
No 121 The dangers of imitation The impropriety of imitating Spenser | 170 |
No 134 Idleness an anxious and miserable state | 176 |
No 135 The folly of annual retreat into the country | 181 |
No 146 An account of an author travelling in quest of his own character The uncertainty of fame | 186 |
No 156 The laws of writing not always indisputable Reflections on tragicomedy | 191 |
No 158 Rules of writing drawn from examples Those examples often mistaken | 196 |
From No 159 The nature and remedies of bashfulness | 201 |
No 165 The impotence of wealth The visit of Se rotinus to the place of his nativity | 203 |
No 176 Directions to authors attacked by criticks The various degrees of critical perspicacity | 208 |
No 183 The influence of envy and interest compared | 213 |
No 119 The folly of creating artificial wants | 261 |
No 126 Solitude not eligible | 267 |
No 137 Writers not a useless generation | 273 |
No 31 The defence of a known mistake highly cul | 278 |
THE IDLER | 279 |
No 23 Uncertainty of friendship | 281 |
No 27 Power of habits | 284 |
No 30 Corruption of newswriters | 287 |
No 31 Disguises of idleness Sobers character | 290 |
No 32 Sleep | 293 |
No 36 The terrifick diction | 297 |
No 41 On the death of a friend | 300 |
No 44 Use of memory | 304 |
No 48 The bustles of idleness | 307 |
No 49 Marvels journey | 310 |
No 50 Marvel paralleled | 313 |
No 51 Domestick greatness unattainable | 316 |
No 57 Character of Sophron the prudent | 320 |
No 58 Expectations of pleasures frustrated | 323 |
No 59 Books fall into neglect | 326 |
No 60 Minim the critick | 328 |
No 61 Minim the critick | 333 |
No 65 Fate of posthumous works | 337 |
No 66 Loss of ancient writings | 340 |
No 72 Regulation of memory | 343 |
No 84 Biography how best performed | 346 |
No 88 What have ye done? | 349 |
No 94 Obstructions of learning | 352 |
No 103 Horrour of the last | 355 |
| 359 | |
Common terms and phrases
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Essays from the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler Volume 207 of The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson Works of Samuel Johnson |
| Author | Samuel Johnson |
| Editor | Walter Jackson Bate |
| Edition | unabridged |
| Publisher | Yale University Press, 1968 |
| ISBN | 0300000162, 9780300000160 |
| Length | 364 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |