I find your love for Johnson wonderfully invigorating, and also intriguing. I - well, I kind of like Johnson. But I love Boswell - not just the Life, but also the Diaries, as well as his travel writing. There's something about the unselfconscious way that Boswell exposes his own vanities, vulnerabilities, insecurities (even when he is ostensibly writing about other people) that makes me warm to him as a person. I can never quite feel that about Johnson, at least in his own writings (it's different when he's channelled through Boswell).
Comparing Johnson to Boswell on the Hebrides is fascinating: Johnson is so analytical, so sententious in his observations, while Boswell is focusing always on the tiniest details of conversation and personal interactions. Of the two, I much prefer reading Boswell - but am I right in thinking that you prefer Johnson?
If you are a Johnsonian who loves reading Henry Oliver -- what could be better? I have only one objection -- to this sentence: "He is almost as important to me as Shakespeare, and I think of him almost as the second most important writer in English, absurd as that might sound." It does not sound absurd at all. Not to me. Not in the least. In fact, I nod naturally.
I find your love for Johnson wonderfully invigorating, and also intriguing. I - well, I kind of like Johnson. But I love Boswell - not just the Life, but also the Diaries, as well as his travel writing. There's something about the unselfconscious way that Boswell exposes his own vanities, vulnerabilities, insecurities (even when he is ostensibly writing about other people) that makes me warm to him as a person. I can never quite feel that about Johnson, at least in his own writings (it's different when he's channelled through Boswell).
Comparing Johnson to Boswell on the Hebrides is fascinating: Johnson is so analytical, so sententious in his observations, while Boswell is focusing always on the tiniest details of conversation and personal interactions. Of the two, I much prefer reading Boswell - but am I right in thinking that you prefer Johnson?
HEre is something I wrote about the way Johnson can be amusing in his Hebrides journal too https://www.commonreader.co.uk/p/the-plain-style-says-one-thing-but?utm_source=publication-search
I love Boswell, I think he is great fun, and perhaps under-appreciated as an English writer, but Johnson is my preference, yes.
If you are a Johnsonian who loves reading Henry Oliver -- what could be better? I have only one objection -- to this sentence: "He is almost as important to me as Shakespeare, and I think of him almost as the second most important writer in English, absurd as that might sound." It does not sound absurd at all. Not to me. Not in the least. In fact, I nod naturally.