Selected Essays

Description

With his wit, eloquence and shrewd perception of contemporary morals, Samuel Johnson was the most versatile of Augustan writers. His dictionary, dramas and poetry established his reputation, but it was the essays published in the "The Rambler", "The Adventurer" and "The Idler" that demonstrated the range of his talent. Tackling ethical questions such as the importance of self-knowledge, awareness of morality, the role of the novel and, in a lighter vein, marriage, sleep and deceit, these thought-provoking essays are a mirror of the time in which they were written and a testament to Johnson's stature as the leading man of letters of his age.

Samuel Johnson (1709-84) was an English poet, novelist, critic, lexicographer, biographer, and editor. But it was his essays that made him a dominant figure in 18th century English literary life. David Womersley is a lecturer in English at Jesus College, Oxford. He edited the authoritative three-volume edition of Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire', as well as the one-volume abridged edition, for Penguin Classics.