Starting with the bookseller’s son born at Lichfield in 1709, Stephen follows Johnson through poverty in London, the long labour of the Dictionary and the pension that freed him. He draws heavily on Boswell to portray the circle of Reynolds, Burke, Goldsmith and Garrick, Johnson’s reign as literary dictator, his last years and a closing assessment of his writings.
Written for the English Men of Letters series by the critic and father of Virginia Woolf, it remains a crisp introduction to Johnson. Download the free EPUB.