Samuel Johnson's Life of Mr Richard Savage is one of the greatest narratives in any genre of the British eighteenth century. Johnson's biography of his friend, a minor poet and hack writer who represented himself as the illegitimate son of a nobleman and died in a Bristol jail, is at once sympathetic and satiric. Broadview's edition, freshly edited and annotated ... Read moreby Nicholas Seager and Lance Wilcox, should be welcomed by students and general readers alike. Their introduction is lively, informed, and concise. The narrative itself is supplemented by relevant writings of Johnson and Savage, excerpts establishing Savage's reputation, and a range of other useful aids.
Robert Folkenflik, University of California, Irvine This deeply informed edition of The Life of Mr Richard Savage is essential reading for students both of Samuel Johnson and of biography. The literary criticism, editorial practice, reception history, and wide-ranging reclamation of contexts are exemplary. The edition also allows us to read Savage's poetry, which Johnson included in his footnotes but which Seager and Wilcox prudently place at the back of their book. They have joined Samuel Johnson to produce an admirable Savage that should find readers from the classroom to the boardroom.
Howard Weinbrot, University of Wisconsin, Madison Like all Broadview editions, this is a first-rate version of Johnson's work. The introduction is a masterpiece of information. It explains who Johnson was when he took on this project, and why he would write such a work about his friend. Even more exciting are the appendices, devoted to such topics as related writings by Johnson; some of Savage's writings; Savage's contemporary reputation; Savage's posthumous reputation; and the lives of Johnson. A more useful text for the classroom could not be imagined.
George E. Haggerty, Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 This comprehensively researched edition breaks new ground in what we know of Savage, adds abundant dimensions to the study of his life and work, and recasts The Life of Mr Richard Savage as an ideal teaching text in the area of eighteenth-century literature.
Joe Lines The Modern Language Review Samuel Johnson's Life of Mr Richard Savage is one of the greatest narratives in any genre of the British eighteenth century. Johnson's biography of his friend, a minor poet and hack writer who represented himself as the illegitimate son of a nobleman and died in a Bristol jail, is at once sympathetic and satiric. Broadview's edition, freshly edited and annotated by Nicholas Seager and Lance Wilcox, should be welcomed by students and general readers alike. Their introduction is lively, informed, and concise. The narrative itself is supplemented by relevant writings of Johnson and Savage, excerpts establishing Savage's reputation, and a range of other useful aids.
Robert Folkenflik, University of California, Irvine This deeply informed edition of The Life of Mr Richard Savage is essential reading for students both of Samuel Johnson and of biography. The literary criticism, editorial practice, reception history, and wide-ranging reclamation of contexts are exemplary. The edition also allows us to read Savage's poetry, which Johnson included in his footnotes but which Seager and Wilcox prudently place at the back of their book. They have joined Samuel Johnson to produce an admirable Savage that should find readers from the classroom to the boardroom.
Howard Weinbrot, University of Wisconsin, Madison Show Less