The Reformist Ideas of Samuel Johnson

The Reformist Ideas of Samuel Johnson
Author: Stefka Ritchie
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2017-03-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1443879126

Download The Reformist Ideas of Samuel Johnson Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This book explores what remains an under-studied aspect of Samuel Johnson’s profile as a person and writer – namely, his attitude to social improvement. The interpretive framework provided here is cross-disciplinary, and applies perspectives from social and cultural history, legal history, architectural history and, of course, English literature. This allows Johnson’s writings to be read against the peculiarities of their historical milieu, and reveals Johnson in a new light – as an advocate of social improvement for human betterment. Considering the multiplicity of narrative modes that have been employed, the book points to the blurred boundaries and overlapping between history, testimony and fiction, and argues that a future biography of Samuel Johnson has to recognise that throughout his life he valued the utilitarian aspect of his manifesto as a writer to impart a more charitable attitude in the pursuit of a more caring society.

Samuel Johnson’s Pragmatism and Imagination

Samuel Johnson’s Pragmatism and Imagination
Author: Stefka Ritchie
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2018-11-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1527521095

Download Samuel Johnson’s Pragmatism and Imagination Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The central theme of this book is an under-studied link between the canon of Francis Bacon’s and Isaac Newton’s scientific and philosophical thought and Samuel Johnson’s critical approach that can be traced in a textual study of his literary works. The interpretive framework adopted here encourages familiarity with the history and philosophy of science, confirming that the history of ideas is an entirely human construct that constitutes an integral part of intellectual history. This further endorses the argument that intermediality can only be of benefit to future research into the richness of Johnson’s literary style. As perceived boundaries are crossed between conventionally distinct communication media, the profile of Johnson that emerges is of a writer of passionate intelligence who was able to combine a pragmatic approach to knowledge with flights of imagination as a true artist.

Selected Writings of Samuel Johnson

Selected Writings of Samuel Johnson
Author: Samuel Johnson
Publisher: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints
Total Pages: 192
Release: 1977
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN:

Download Selected Writings of Samuel Johnson Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Transcendental intuition defended against the claims of scientific rationalism.

The Works of Samuel Johnson; Volume 5

The Works of Samuel Johnson; Volume 5
Author: Samuel Johnson
Publisher: Legare Street Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-07-18
Genre:
ISBN: 9781020338434

Download The Works of Samuel Johnson; Volume 5 Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

This collection of writings by Samuel Johnson encompasses a wide range of topics, from poetry and literary criticism to politics and philosophy. Johnson's wit and insight are on full display in these volumes, making them essential reading for anyone interested in English literature or intellectual history. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Supplicating Voice

The Supplicating Voice
Author: Samuel Johnson
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2005-04-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0375725679

Download The Supplicating Voice Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

A unique one-volume selection of Samuel Johnson’s writings on spiritual and moral topics provides an unusually inspiring portrait of the man and his thought. Most readers know Dr. Johnson (1709—1784) as the formidable compiler of his famous Dictionary and as the witty conversationalist portrayed in Boswell’s Life. By contrast, this book–which draws on little-known unsigned sermons he wrote for hire for clergy friends, his private prayers and devotions, essays, poems, diaries, letters, and even key definitions from the Dictionary–offers a rare opportunity to discover Johnson’s rich insight and consoling spirituality gathered in one place. Boswell observed that "He was a sincere and zealous ChristianÉ. He was steady and inflexible in maintaining the obligations of religion and morality; both from a regard for the order of society, and from a veneration for the Great Source of all order." This Vintage Spiritual Classics Original opens a window on the moral universe of the leading English writer of the eighteenth century.

The Age of Curiosity

The Age of Curiosity
Author: Simone Broders
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2021-05-10
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 3110722046

Download The Age of Curiosity Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Challenging the ‘success story’ of curiosity from original sin to intellectual virtue, this study uses an innovative methodological approach to the history of ideas as a non-teleological neural network based on current research in information technology and neurophysiology. The network offers a dynamic alternative to the ‘development’ of curiosity within the progress-oriented mythology of the Enlightenment, emphasizing the oscillation and interaction of ideas within the processes of their construction, as well as exposing the power relations behind them. The text corpus focuses on enactments of curiosity in English literature of the 'Long' Eighteenth Century (c. 1680-1818), such as transgression of boundaries, breach of taboo, gendered curiosity, sensationalism, or academic endeavour, bringing together a variety of examples from all major genres. The Age of Curiosity contributes to current debates on a post-Foucauldian renewal of Lovejoy’s history of ideas in Enlightenment studies, exploring both curiosity as an indispensable trait for the search of answers to the fundamental yet unresolved questions of ‘identity’ or ‘truth’, and its potential as cura, the care for others and the world.

Religion, Reform and Modernity in the Eighteenth Century

Religion, Reform and Modernity in the Eighteenth Century
Author: Robert G. Ingram
Publisher: Boydell Press
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2007
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781843833482

Download Religion, Reform and Modernity in the Eighteenth Century Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

A new interpretation of English history and religion in the eighteenth century. The eighteenth century has long divided critical opinion. Some contend that it witnessed the birth of the modern world, while others counter that England remained an ancien regime confessional state. This book takes issue with both positions, arguing that the former overstate the newness of the age and largely misdiagnose the causes of change, while the latter rightly point to the persistence of more traditional modes of thought and behaviour, but downplay the era's fundamental uncertainty and misplace the reasons for and the timeline of its passage. The overwhelming catalyst for change is here seen to be war, rather than long-term social and economic changes. Archbishop Thomas Secker [1693-1768], the Cranmer or Laud of his age, and the hitherto neglected church reforms he spearheaded, form the particular focus of the book; this is the first full archivally-based study of a crucial but frequently ignored figure. ROBERT G. INGRAM is Assistant Professor at the Department of History, Ohio University.

1650-1850

1650-1850
Author: Kevin L. Cope
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2024-08-16
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 168448524X

Download 1650-1850 Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

Exploratory, investigative, and energetically analytical, 1650–1850 covers the full expanse of long eighteenth-century thought, writing, and art while delivering abundant revelatory detail. Essays on well-known cultural figures combine with studies of emerging topics to unveil a vivid rendering of a dynamic period, simultaneously committed to singular genius and universal improvement. Welcoming research on all nations and language traditions, 1650–1850 invites readers into a truly global Enlightenment. Topics in volume 29 include Samuel Johnson’s notions about the education of women and a refreshing account of Sir Joseph Banks’s globetrotting. A guest-edited, illustration-rich, interdisciplinary special feature explores the cultural implications of water. As always, 1650–1850 culminates in a bevy of full-length book reviews critiquing the latest scholarship on long-established specialties, unusual subjects, and broad reevaluations of the period. Published by Bucknell University Press, distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.

Champion of English Freedom

Champion of English Freedom
Author: Robin Eagles
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
Total Pages: 489
Release: 2024-06-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1398111716

Download Champion of English Freedom Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

2024 marks the 250th anniversary of John Wilkes becoming Lord Mayor of London. A man simultaneously full of contradiction and principles, Wilkes was a giant of eighteenth-century England and helped shape modern Britain.

The Age of Johnson

The Age of Johnson
Author: Jack Lynch
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 239
Release: 2021-06-18
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1684483026

Download The Age of Johnson Book in PDF, Epub and Kindle

The move to a new publisher has given The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual the opportunity to recommit to what it does best: present to a wide readership cant-free scholarly articles and essays and searching book reviews, all featuring a wide variety of approaches, written by both seasoned scholars and relative newcomers. Volume 24 features commentary on a range of Johnsonian topics: his reaction to Milton, his relation to the Allen family, his notes in his edition of Shakespeare, his use of Oliver Goldsmith in his Dictionary, and his always fascinating Nachleben. The volume also includes articles on topics of strong interest to Johnson: penal reform, Charlotte Lennox's professional literary career, and the "conjectural history" of Homer in the eighteenth century. For more than two decades, The Age of Johnson has presented a vast corpus of Johnsonian studies "in the broadest sense," as founding editor Paul J. Korshin put it in the preface to Volume 1, and it has retained the interest of a wide readership. In thousands of pages of articles, review essays, and reviews, The Age of Johnson has made a permanent contribution to our understanding of the eighteenth century, and particularly of Samuel Johnson, his circle, and his interests, and has also served as an outlet for writers who are not academics but have something important to say about the eighteenth century. ISSN 0884-5816.