A History of the Commentary on Selected Writings of Samuel Johnson

A history and analysis of 250 years of critical commentary on selected works of Samuel Johnson.

The works of Samuel Johnson, whom many consider the father of English criticism, are themselves the object of thousands of pages of critical commentary and analysis. Edward Tomarken's study traces and analyses the past two and a half centuries of commentary on selected Johnsonian works: The early biographies and the life of Savage (1744); The nondramatic poems, particularly 'London' (1738) and 'The Vanity of Human Wishes' (1749); His play Irene (1749); The periodical essays, particularly in the Rambler (1750-52); Rasselas (1759); Shakespearean criticism (1765); The Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775); and The Lives of the Poets(1779-81).

Thomas P. Saine of the University of California. Irvine, has edited all the volumes of the Goethe Yearbook to date. Volume 10 was edited with the assistance of Simon Richter of the University of Pennsylvania, who will assume the editorship with volume 11. Ellis Dye of Macalester College is book review editor.