Subject: Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784 (Keywords)

Poet, essayist, biographer, lexicographer, critic, and wit, Samuel Johnson is one of the great figures of English literature. In this biography, Peter Martin portrays a Johnson wracked by recriminations, self-doubt and depression, a man whose writings constituted rational triumphs against despair.

Johnson, born weak and half-blind, shambolic and poverty-stricken, became the most admired and quoted man in the 18th century. David Nokes looks beyond Johnson's public persona and beyond the Johnson that Boswell to some extent created.