Selected Essays (Penguin Classics)

by Samuel Johnson (Author),David Womersley (Editor)

Product details

Paperback: 640 pages

Publisher: Penguin Classics; Rev Ed edition (27 Feb. 2003)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0140436278

ISBN-13: 978-0140436273

Product Dimensions:12.9 x 2.9 x 19.8 cm

Product description

This volume contains a generous selection from the essays Johnson published twice weekly as 'The Rambler' in the early 1750s. It was here that he first created the literary character and forged the distinctive prose style that established him as a public figure. Also included here is the best of Johnson's later journalism, including essays from the periodicals 'The Adventurer' and 'The Idler'.

About the Author

Samuel Johnson (1709-84) was an English poet, novelist, critic, lexicographer, biographer, and editor. But it was his essays that made him a dominant figure in 18th century English literary life. David Womersley is a lecturer in English at Jesus College, Oxford. He edited the authoritative three-volume edition of Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire', as well as the one-volume abridged edition, for Penguin Classics.