Samuel Johnson, página 2 de 4

Telling how Rasselas and his companions escape from the bland pleasures of their perfectly happy valley in Abissinia to Egypt, to study how people live, the book is a parable and a pilgrimage in which all manner of subjects are discussed - flying machines, poetry, marriage, madness. Rasselas embodies Dr. Johnson's most powerful and heart-warming qualities: his tragic sense of life, his justice, his wisdom which is never boring or solemn, and his miraclous ability to balance humour with sympathy in weighing up some of life's more mysterious problems - what is happiness, and how can we find it?

Ed. & Intro.: Arthur Sherbo

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, published in 1755, marked a milestone in a language in desperate need of standards. No English dictionary before it had devoted so much space to everyday words, been so thorough in its definitions, or illustrated usage by quoting from Shakespeare and other great writers. Johnson's was the dictionary used by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Wordsworth and Coleridge, the Brontës and the Brownings, Thomas Hardy and Oscar Wilde. This new edition, edited by David Crystal, will contain a selection from the original, offering memorable passages on subjects ranging from books and critics to dreams and ethics.

En octubre de 1765 se publicó en ocho volúmenes la edición de las obras de William Shakespeare preparada por el ensayista, lexicógrafo y poeta Samuel Johnson (1709-1784). El "Prefacio" a esta magna hazaña editorial representa una de las maximas muestras de la ensayistica de todos los tiempos y traza una lectura ejemplar de Shakespeare, cuyas pautas siguen teniendo una asombrosa vigencia y pueden adaptarse de modo fructifero a cualquier tipo de exegesis literaria.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), often called "Dr. Johnson", was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography calls him arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history.In his later life Johnson became a celebrity, and following his death he was increasingly seen to have had a lasting effect on literary criticism, even being claimed to be the one truly great critic of English literature.The Life of Abraham Cowley, which we propose to our readers today, is taken from the 1794 corrected edition of Samuel Johnsons monumental work The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets.Abraham Cowley (1618-1667) was an English poet and essayist born in the City of London late in 1618. He was one of the leading English poets of the 17th century, with 14 printings of his Works published between 1668 and 1721.

With his wit, eloquence and shrewd perception of contemporary morals, Samuel Johnson was the most versatile of Augustan writers. His dictionary, dramas and poetry established his reputation, but it was the essays published in The Rambler, The Adventurer and The Idler that demonstrated the range of his talent. Tackling ethical questions such as the importance of self-knowledge, awareness of mortality, the role of the novel, and, in a lighter vein, marriage, sleep and deceit, these brilliant and thought-provoking essays are a mirror of the time in which they were written and a testament to Johnson's stature as the leading man of letters of his age.

Rasselas es el libro más original de toda la producción de Samuel L. Johnson. Cuenta cómo Rasselasy sus compañeros viajan hacia Egipto dejando atrás los dulces placeres de su perfecto valle en Abisinia, para estudiar el modo de la vida de la gente. El libro es una parabola y un peregrinaje en el que se filosofa sobre todo tipo de materias -maquinas voladoras, la poesis, el matrimonio, la locura-. Rasselas encarna las mas maravillosas y poderosas cualidades del doctor Samuel L. Johnson: su tragico sentido de la vida, su justicia, su sabiduria (la cual nunca es solemne ni aburrida) y su milagrosa habilidad de mantener el equilibrio entre el humor y la sensibilidad al sopesar algunos de los mas misteriosos problemas de la vida, como esa ancestral pregunta: ¿Que es la felicidad y como podemos encontrarla?

Editor: Arthur Sherbo

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary, published in 1755, marked a milestone in a language in desperate need of standards. No English dictionary before it had devoted so much space to everyday words, been so thorough in its definitions, or illustrated usage by quoting from Shakespeare and other great writers. Johnson's was the dictionary used by Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, Wordsworth and Coleridge, the Brontes and the Brownings, Thomas Hardy and Oscar Wilde.This new edition, edited by David Crystal, will contain a selection from the original, offering memorable passages on subjects ranging from books and critics to dreams and ethics.