A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland - Softcover

Johnson, Samuel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1480180084 ISBN 13: 9781480180086

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012

Synopsis

A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775) is a travel narrative by Samuel Johnson about an eighty-three day journey through Scotland, in particular the islands of the Hebrides, in the late summer and autumn of 1773. The sixty-three year-old Johnson was accompanied by his thirty-two year-old friend of many years James Boswell, who was also keeping a record of the trip, published in 1785 as A Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. Other notable books by Samuel Johnson include A Grammar of the English Tongue, Rasselas, Preface to Shakespeare, and Johnson's Lives of the Poets.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

In 1773, the great Samuel Johnson?then 63?and his young friend and future biographer, James Boswell, traveled together around the coast of Scotland, each writing his own account of the 83-day journey. Published in one volume, the very different travelogues of this unlikely duo provide a fascinating picture not only of the Scottish Highlands but also of the relationship between two men whose fame would be forever entwined.

Johnson's account contains elegant descriptions and analyses of what was then a remote and rugged land. In contrast, the Scottish-born Boswell's journal of the trip focuses on the psychological landscape of his famously gruff and witty companion, and is part of the material he was already collecting for his future Life of Samuel Johnson, the masterly biography that would make his name.

Read together, the two accounts form both a unique classic of travel writing and a revelation of one of the most famous literary friendships.

About the Author:

Samuel Johnson, often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and committed Tory, and has been described as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". He is also the subject of "the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature": James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1480180084
• ISBN 13: 9781480180086
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 102