Boswell’s “Life of Johnson”

Chapter 2 focuses principally on Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson, specifically the way in which the text theatricalises the representation of Johnson, but also stages his conversation and voice as signifiers of his wisdom, presence and authority. While the notion of widespread theatricality disturbed Johnson, Boswell, consciously staged Johnson as the lead character in his biography, while portraying himself as a sort of actor-manager. The biographyconsists principally of dialogue which lends it a theatrical flavour. In privileging Johnson’s speech over his writing, Boswell reinforced his sense of Johnson as a point of origin and enabled him to subordinate Johnson’s writing by re-appropriating his wisdom through its representation in talk. Boswell’s approach reflected an emerging ideology of voice, represented by writers such as Blair and Sheridan. Johnson’s voice inspired a host of imitators, the greatest being Boswell himself, who argues that he was “impregnated” with his hero’s aether, enabling him to internalise Johnson. Boswell, thereby, assumed proprietorial rights over Johnson, and, by writing the biography, mastered English and became the author of himself.