three for wednesday
Jun. 21st, 2023 06:11 am1. Josh got sick on my birthday, so we weren't able to Go To Town and have a date like we'd planned, but the kids gave me the sweetest gifts--some stickers, an emery board shaped like a cat, purple paperclips, and a collection of face masks.
2.![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gloss wrote me the splendor splits, a genderbent Moths AU that is pushing all my buttons. Go read!
3.
Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Boswell really sets the conventions for the genre of biography. He's biased; he wants to present his friend, mentor, and pseudo-father in the best light. But he also is committed to what he sees as truth--revealing the truth about Johnson even when it is not flattering or might even be something Johnson wouldn't have wanted revealed. I also am impressed by his commitment to citing his sources, to including letters, to speaking to the people involved in situations, and to avoiding speculation about people's motivations or their thoughts as much as possible. His bio is so much better researched and cited than many early 20th-century bios that don't cite sources or which endlessly and baselessly speculate or psychoanalyze (I'm thinking of Ouida's various biographers here). And especially early 20th-century literary criticism that will just quote someone with no attribution or say the quote is by that esteemed Chalmundey as if I'm supposed to know who that is or when or where or under what circumstances the illustrious Chalmundey uttered this wisdom. So frustrating.
I find both Boswell and Johnson sexist and racist at times. While Johnson is pro-abolition, Boswell is pro-slavery. Both of them, however, are convinced of the inferiority of people who aren't white. I also find their treatment of Mrs. Thrale pretty infuriating. I don't think Johnson ever thought to marry her, but all his friends pretty clearly thought he'd marry her after Mr. Thrale died, and even if Johnson had no aspirations of marrying her, he clearly thought he was going to continue as a member of her household until he died and she and her daughters would caretake for him. Who can blame the woman for remarrying when she fell in love again? And who can blame her for not wanting to spend however many years caretaking for a difficult man she wasn't even related to who spent a lot of time criticizing her and belittling women in general? It's truly a mystery. LOL
On the whole, though, the deep friendship between Boswell and Johnson is endearing to read about as is Boswell's genuine joy at being chosen to be the dearest friend of such a literary lion.
View all my reviews
2.
gloss wrote me the splendor splits, a genderbent Moths AU that is pushing all my buttons. Go read!3.
Life of Samuel Johnson by James BoswellMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Boswell really sets the conventions for the genre of biography. He's biased; he wants to present his friend, mentor, and pseudo-father in the best light. But he also is committed to what he sees as truth--revealing the truth about Johnson even when it is not flattering or might even be something Johnson wouldn't have wanted revealed. I also am impressed by his commitment to citing his sources, to including letters, to speaking to the people involved in situations, and to avoiding speculation about people's motivations or their thoughts as much as possible. His bio is so much better researched and cited than many early 20th-century bios that don't cite sources or which endlessly and baselessly speculate or psychoanalyze (I'm thinking of Ouida's various biographers here). And especially early 20th-century literary criticism that will just quote someone with no attribution or say the quote is by that esteemed Chalmundey as if I'm supposed to know who that is or when or where or under what circumstances the illustrious Chalmundey uttered this wisdom. So frustrating.
I find both Boswell and Johnson sexist and racist at times. While Johnson is pro-abolition, Boswell is pro-slavery. Both of them, however, are convinced of the inferiority of people who aren't white. I also find their treatment of Mrs. Thrale pretty infuriating. I don't think Johnson ever thought to marry her, but all his friends pretty clearly thought he'd marry her after Mr. Thrale died, and even if Johnson had no aspirations of marrying her, he clearly thought he was going to continue as a member of her household until he died and she and her daughters would caretake for him. Who can blame the woman for remarrying when she fell in love again? And who can blame her for not wanting to spend however many years caretaking for a difficult man she wasn't even related to who spent a lot of time criticizing her and belittling women in general? It's truly a mystery. LOL
On the whole, though, the deep friendship between Boswell and Johnson is endearing to read about as is Boswell's genuine joy at being chosen to be the dearest friend of such a literary lion.
View all my reviews
