Also Read
The Life of Johnson by James Boswell is a monumental work in biographical literature. It is a land-mark in the history of English biography and originated a new type of biography. Macaulay, the brilliant and erratic critic, who is a great authority in many literary matters, acknowledges the unsurpassable greatness of the book in the famous line: "Homer is not more decidedly the first of the epic poets. Shakespeare is not more decidedly the first of the dramatists, Demothenes is not more decidedly the first of orators than Boswell is the first of biographers. He has no second." Yet, he stated paradoxically. "If he had not been a great fool he would never have been a great writer" This is one of his most unfortunate paradoxes and that eminent critic Sir Walter Raleigh gave the reply to it in a terse line, that quietly fell from his pen without any fear of controversy, namely "A wiser man than Macaulay, James Boswell".
 |
| The Life of Johnson |
There is no doubt that Life of Johnson has outdistanced all other biographers written until recently. Boswell was the man's fittest for the task. He had the first-hand and most intimate knowledge of his subject. He followed faithfully his master through various times and various situations. The book is the result of this intimate union between the two. He had the necessary imagination for the work. He had, no doubt, the ardent hero-worshipping reverence for the master but "he was much of an artist not to know that he wanted shadows to give value to his lights". He does not paint his idol as an angel. It is the Johnson of reality and not idealized Johnson that lives in the pages of Boswell. The biographer is not afraid of handling many ridiculous or uncreditable circumstances of Johnson's life and by his art left a convincing impression of his great master. After all, none is a hero to a valet. The light and shade in the character of the great Doctor have been admirably poised to give a faithful and accurate picture. Besides, his bustling energy, marvelous memory, and tireless industry which made him note down minute details of great value and his fine sense of art made a happy selection of the essentials. All these gifts combined to produce the book that in its liveliness and companionableness is a masterpiece of biographic art.