James Boswell (1740-1795) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was the firstborn son of the Scottish advocate and judge, Alexander Boswell. He was heir to the Auchinleck estate in Ayrshire, and inh…
We have to think that just as Sancho is the companion Quixote sometimes treats badly, we see Boswell in that same relation to Dr. Johnson: a sometimes stupid and loyal companion. There are characters whose role is to bring out the hero’s personality, and that character in Boswell’s work is Boswell himself. That is, Boswell appears as a despicable character. But it seems impossible to me that Boswell didn’t realize this. And this shows that Boswell positioned himself in contrast to Johnson. The fact that Boswell himself tells anecdotes in which he appears ridiculous makes him not seem ridiculous at all, for if he wrote them down, he did it because he saw that the purpose of the anecdote was to make Johnson stand out.
(History & Politics & Social Sciences & Literature & Poetry & Art) London Journal 1762-1763 by James Boswell (Author), Gordon Turnbull (Editor, Introduction)
James Boswell’s “Life of Johnson” helped ensure the posterity of the ever quotable Samuel Johnson.
National Biographers Day is celebrated on May 16 of every year
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A reissue of the 1786 edition with the addition of a map which is dated 10th April 1791
