Overview
In Samuel Johnson's Critical Opinions, Prof. Arthur Sherbo resurrects Johnson's notes in which he expresses critical opinions that not only further illuminate his critical theories but are also of interest to those Shakespeareans who have relied on previous work by Joseph Epes Brown and Walter Raleigh. While the notes on Shakespeare form the single largest body of critical opinions on one writer, this volume also reprints critical opinions on a host of other writers and works derived from Johnson's other writings and from his conversations as recorded by James Boswell and Hester Piozzi, among others. To Professor Brown's original compilation, Sherbo has added some four hundred new notes from more than 130 authors and works. He has also made a few comments on Johnson's notes and on his other critical opinions, particularly to point out how Johnson used books he owned at one time or another. This work also includes a short essay entitled "What Johnson Did Not 'Understand' in Shakespeare's Plays," in which Sherbo isolates those notes in which Johnson confessed he did not "understand" and then compares the notes to the same passages in a modern edition.Synopsis
In Samuel Johnson's Critical Opinions, Prof. Arthur Sherbo resurrects Johnson's notes in which he expresses critical opinions that not only further illuminate his critical theories but are also of interest to those Shakespeareans who have relied on previous work by Joseph Epes Brown and Walter Raleigh. While the notes on Shakespeare form the single largest body of critical opinions on one writer, this volume also reprints critical opinions on a host of other writers and works derived from Johnson's other writings and from his conversations as recorded by James Boswell and Hester Piozzi, among others. To Professor Brown's original compilation, Sherbo has added some four hundred new notes from more than 130 authors and works. He has also made a few comments on Johnson's notes and on his other critical opinions, particularly to point out how Johnson used books he owned at one time or another. This work also includes a short essay entitled "What Johnson Did Not 'Understand' in Shakespeare's Plays," in which Sherbo isolates those notes in which Johnson confessed he did not "understand" and then compares the notes to the same passages in a modern edition.