The Life of Samuel Johnson
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Narrated by:
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Bernard Mayes
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By:
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James Boswell
About this listen
James Boswell forever changed the genre of biography when he painstakingly transformed a scholarly profusion of detail into a perceptive, lifelike portrait of Dr. Samuel Johnson. James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson reveals a man of outsized appetites and private vulnerabilities and is the source of much of what we know about one of the towering figures of English literature. Boswell spent a great deal of time with Johnson in his final years and from his scrupulously accurate memory and copious journal was able to faithfully record the brilliance and wit of Dr. Johnson's conversation. Boswell's aim and achievement was completeness; no detail was too small for him. On this point Dr. Johnson remarked to him, "There is nothing, sir, too little for so little a creature as man."
Boswell's thirst for detail makes this indisputably the finest of many biographies of Johnson. This biography gained its unique place in literary history from the fact that its style was revolutionary. The usual style of biographers of that era was to record dry facts from the subject's public life only. Boswell differed by incorporating actual conversations of Dr. Johnson, which Boswell had previously noted down in journals, and by including many more details of personal life. The result revolutionized the genre.
For both its subject and its style, The Life of Samuel Johnson is still popular with modern critics and students of the history of English thought and of English literature.
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Welcome to the world of Jane Austen, one of the most beloved authors in the English language. Austen's works are known for their wit, social commentary, and romantic storylines that have captivated readers for generations.
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Classic Novels are the best.
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Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World
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Jonathan Swift is best remembered today as the author of Gulliver’s Travels, the satiric fantasy that quickly became a classic and has remained in print for nearly three centuries. Yet Swift also wrote many other influential works, was a major political and religious figure in his time, and became a national hero, beloved for his fierce protest against English exploitation of his native Ireland. What is really known today about the enigmatic man behind these accomplishments? Can the facts of his life be separated from the fictions?
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JOHNATHAN SWIFT AND POWER OF THE PEN
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By: Leo Damrosch
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The Infidel and the Professor
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Vividly written, The Infidel and the Professor is a compelling account of a great friendship of two towering Enlightenment thinkers that had great consequences for modern thought. David Hume is widely regarded as the most important philosopher ever to write in English, but during his lifetime, he was attacked as "the Great Infidel" for his skeptical religious views and deemed unfit to teach the young. In contrast, Adam Smith was a revered professor of moral philosophy and is now often hailed as the founding father of capitalism.
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a thoroughly enjoyable account of friendship
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William Wilberforce
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William Wilberforce: A Hero for Humanity is the definitive biography of the English statesman who overcame incredible odds to bring about the end of slavery and slave trade. Called 'the wittiest man in England' by philosopher and novelist Madame de Stael, praised by Abraham Lincoln, and renowned for his oratorical genius, Wilberforce worked tirelessly to accomplish his goal. Whether you are an avid student of history, a pupil of prominent leaders of the past, or simply someone who reads for pleasure, you will love award-winning biographer Kevin Belmonte's vivid account....
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A Genuine Hero
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Clarissa, or The History of a Young Lady, Volume 1
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A milestone in the history of the novel, Samuel Richardson’s epistolary and elaborate Clarissa follows the life of a chaste young woman desperate to protect her virtue. When beautiful Clarissa Harlowe is forced to marry the rich but repulsive Mr. Solmes, she refuses, much to her family’s chagrin. She escapes their persecution with the help of Mr. Lovelace, a dashing and seductive rake, but soon finds herself in a far worse dilemma. Terrifying and enlightening, Clarissa weaves a tapestry of narrative experimentation into a gripping morality tale of good versus evil.
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Gripping Novel & Performance
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Dr Wortle's School
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Dr Wortle's School introduces the unassuming Mr. Peacocke and his polite, newly-wed bride, as they join the teaching staff of an elite and exclusive Christian boys' school. Dr. Wortle, a devoted English scholar and the headmaster of the seminary academy, welcomes his two new teachers, confident that they will uphold the high standards of education at the school.
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Trollope is amazing, and Timothy West is amazing
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The Warden
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Set in the world of the Victorian professional and landed classes, the story centres on Mr Harding, a clergyman of great personal integrity who is nevertheless in possession of an income from a charity far in excess of the sum devoted to it.
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a delight
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The Autobiography of Charles Darwin
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This work, unsurprisingly, offers invaluable insights into the life and times of Charles Darwin, his personality and the formative influences that made him what he was, for here we have his own words and ‘voice’ at the close of a prodigiously productive career. He tells of his childhood, his student days at Edinburgh and Cambridge, his love of beetles, shooting and geology and of his grandfather, Josiah Wedgwood. He talks at some length about his meetings with the great scientific men of the age, his attitudes to his critics, to religion and of his theories of evolution.
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Darwin about himself
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Timeless Tales for Kids
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Timeless Tales for Kids is an enchanting compilation of children's classic stories read by an all-star cast. Olivia Colman reads E. Nesbit's classic novel The Railway Children, a masterpiece in children's fiction wonderfully evoking a bygone age, packed with fun, excitement and adventure. Bill Nighy reads a much-loved children's classic, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which continues to delight young and old with its enchanting tale of witches, flying monkeys and magical shoes.
By: E. Nesbit, and others
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The Way of All Flesh
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This brilliant satirical novel, tracing the life and loves of Ernest Pontifex, has continued in popularity since its original publication in 1903. Every generation finds in The Way of All Flesh a reaffirmation of youth's rightful struggle against the tyranny of harsh parents and its admirable will for freedom of personal expression.
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classic satire- would make Jon Stewart laugh
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By: Samuel Butler
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What listeners say about The Life of Samuel Johnson
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Konya Marton
- 07-13-20
Living account of an extraordinary scholar
Originally I bought this piece because I very much enjoyed the other books read by Mr Bernard Mayes, who excelled himself in this work. He breathes life into the characters, but is not voice-acting as many readers do, and leaves a great deal for the imagination. His voice only helps illustrating, which is a really rare thing amongst readers. This explains my 5 star for performance.
This was the first biographical work I have "read", and I enjoyed every minute of it. My greatest enjoyment came from the fact that not only is it an account of a great and extraordinary historical figure, but it is an account by a close friend and contemporary, James Boswell.
Dr Johnson's person is interesting enough in itself to capture the mind. He lived the life of a really great man: producing invaluable works of scholarship, and heroicly suffering his physical and psycholocigal ills. A fruitful, eventful, thoughtful, but miserable life. His life as a literary figure mainly revolved around conversation, acquaintances, writing and exchanging letters, so action-fans may not enjoy this book all that much.
And apart from the doctor's life this book gives a first hand account on the literary life of 18th century Britain. The great poets, journalists, scientists etc. you read about on Wikipedia come to life, and can be observed in their everyday discussions, one can feel as if one sits with these great men around a table in "the Club". Many historical events, political turbulences (like the American Revolution, the Gordon riots, etc.) can be recognised as our heroes experience and discuss them.
I can encourage everyone, especially those interested in history and human nature to read it. It is great to read and re-live the life events of these great figures day-by-day, and it comes as a real sorrow when the book eventually ends, upon Dr Johnson's death.
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- J.Michael Campbell
- 03-10-18
Take a long bath in late 1700's intellectualism
Hop in and you will soak up the thought process and value systems guiding them through what was then considered the gold standard of conversational excellence in debate around a rambling errata of literary and intellectual arguments of that long gone by day and age when men of letters were men of leisure.
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- Snarky
- 09-29-21
A sinkhole of time
A sinkhole of time I will never get back. I kept thinking it would develop something redeemable. It never does. Avoid.
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- Tim
- 11-27-22
Perhaps I am not smart enough for this book
This is a very famous book, so I thought I might enjoy it.
I have been unable to find anything interesting in it at all. There are substantial passages read entirely in Latin, which tried my patience, in general the subject matter was very dry.
If you enjoy the short excerpt that Audible presents as a sample, then you are probably capable of enjoying the book.
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1 person found this helpful