Samuel Johnson and the Journey into Words
- Hardcover
304 pages
- Release Date
27 August 2015
Summary
Popular readings of Johnson as a dictionary-maker often see him as a writer who both laments and attempts to control the state of the language. Lynda Mugglestone looks at the range of Johnson’s writings on, and the complexity of his thinking about, language and lexicography. She shows how these reveal him probing problems not just of meaning and use but what he considered the related issues of control, obedience, and justice, as well as the difficulties of powerwhen exerted over the ‘sea of w…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780199679904 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0199679908 |
| Author: | Lynda Mugglestone |
| Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
| Imprint: | Oxford University Press |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 304 |
| Release Date: | 27 August 2015 |
| Weight: | 498g |
| Dimensions: | 222mm x 147mm x 24mm |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
This is a fascinating study of Johnson, which reopens areas of investigation that have long since seemed closed. This is a book for students of Johnson or the eighteenth century at any level. * George E. Haggerty, SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 *
The book is acutely historically aware and deeply serious * Min Wild, Times Literary Supplement *
“Mugglestone’s scholarship displays deep learning with a deceptive lightness, a talent she shares with her subject. * Times Higher Education, Willy Maley *
Mugglestones meticulous research and stylistic clarity render this volume both informative and entertaining … Those approaching Johnsons great, complicated book for the first time will find this brief but rich volume the go-to guide for years to come. * A. W. Lee, Choice *
Lynda Mugglestone has given us a highly readable, fascinating account, where her high competence in the history of the English language and deep insights into Johnson’s world of words get perfectly integrated with the best and most up-to-date criticism of the Dictionary. * Giovanni Iamartino, Johnsonian News Letter *
About The Author
Lynda Mugglestone
Lynda Mugglestone is Professor of the History of English and Fellow and Tutor in English at Pembroke College. She is the editor of Lexicography and the OED (OUP 2002),The Oxford History of English (OUP 2006, 2nd edn 2012) and, with Freya Johnston, of Samuel Johnson: The Arc of the Pendulum (OUP 2012). Her books include Talking Proper: The Rise of Accent as Social Symbol (OUP 1995, 2nd edn 2003), Lost for Words: The HiddenHistory of the Oxford English Dictionary (Yale 2004) and Dictionaries: A Very Short Introduction (OUP 2011).
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