Enacts Johnson's celebrated variation on a theme from Horace-it does not merely delight and instruct, but rather instructs by delighting us... DeMaria proves himself a reader altogether worthy of his subject. Times Literary Supplement Fascinatingly perceptive both of Johnson's own reading habits and of their significance in the cultural history of reading.
Allan Ingram Modern Language Review Both a ... Read morescholarly and an imaginative achievement, combining detailed detective work, abstract categorization, and sympathetic understanding. The finished product re-creates the detailed fabric of Johnson's reading career while locating it in a cultural landscape of rapid publication and growing literacy... Eminently readable, learned, and thoughtful.
Helen Deutsch Modern Philology 2000 An intellectual history of the writer and his age.
Joseph Rosenblum Magill's Literary Annual 1998 DeMaria presents an imaginative re-creation of Johnson's library and suggests how his reading habits offered a model for preventing the disappearance of the reader. Biblio 1998 Show Less