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Samuel Johnson: A Biography

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I first came across Samuel Johnson as a 15-year old sitting on the porch of an old farmhouse where I spent the lazy summer days reading an abridged but still lengthy version of Boswell's "Life of Johnson." The encounter with Samuel Johnson was for me a formative event in maturing from adolescence into adulthood.

C S Lewis, professor of mediaeval and Renaissance English literature and Christian apologist, towards the end of his life was asked in 1962 "what books did most to shape your vocational attitude and your philosophy of life?" James Boswell's "Life of Samuel Johnson" was among the ten titles listed by C S Lewis.

It's been a generation since the last major biographies of the 18th century London literary arbiter Samuel Johnson. Author Peter Martin writes in the preface to his life of Johnson that "I came to write a biography of Samuel Johnson for the tercentenary of his birth in 2009 through writing biographies of Edmund Malone and James Boswell, two good friends devoted to the great man...."

Peter Martin takes into account the scholarship since the last biographies of 30 years ago and gives us a new appraisal.

The style and content of this new biography can be gleaned from the author's description of why he prefers a certain portrait of Samuel Johnson, of the many painted over his lifetime: "There is a portrait by his friend Sir Joshua Reynolds painted in the 1760s, when Johnson was in his late fifties, which speaks volumes about the private Johnson. In it Johnson does not hide under the wig in which men were conventionally painted in the eighteenth century and which could blur the persona with an appearance of social respectability. He looks less cloaked and protected, vulnerable yet courageous, even defiantly introspective. The energy of the profile seems almost agonised, focused on troubled thoughts, wrestling with difficult ideas that lie deep within-- a mind seemingly preying on itself....This is my favourite portrait of the several Reynolds painted of him because it cuts through the cliches about Johnson which prevailed during his lifetime and have persisted ever since. It helps make him accessible to us not as a relic of the eighteenteth century but as a man beset by problems common to us all, with important things to say about the human condition."

What that Reynold's portrait did for Johnson, so Peter Martin provides for us. Peter Martin writes in a pleasant style without literary sparkle, but the ordinariness of his style allows Johnson to shine forth. He evenly covers Johnson's whole life, without giving preference to one period over another. Peter Martin provides just the right touch: he satisfies our desire to know and understand Johnson, but leaves us wanting to know more.

Author Peter Martin dedicated his biography of Johnson to the memory of his late wife Cindy, "who was at the heart of this project in its early days."

Admirers of Samuel Johnson--of whom I am one--tend to think of him as a sort of personal friend. We delight in his company, and gather around him as though we were modern-day members of his Club. We will all want to read this book, because we read every book about Johnson; each new book permits us to enjoy his company once again. But in this case we are somewhat disappointed, because the Johnson presented by Peter Martin is not the one we want to know.

Martin has written a thorough, workmanlike biography, perhaps the most detailed and complete that has yet been written. But it is not a loving biography, and fails to capture the charm of the great human being that he writes about. On the contrary, it is rather morose, with heavy emphasis on Johnson's many illnesses, both mental and physical. The delight of Boswell's book, with its warm feeling of intimacy, is nowhere present. Nor does it pretend to be a literary-critical biography, in any serious sense. It is simply a detailed exposition of the events in the life of Samuel Johnson. If one wished to be unkind, one might say it is like a Wikipedia article, grown to 500 pages long.

Samuel Johnson was one of the great prose stylists in the English language, and it is a grave risk to appear in his presence without being a tolerably good writer oneself. Because the book is full of Johnson quotes, it constantly contrasts the Johnsonian style with the Martinian, and alas, Mr. Martin is revealed as a ham-fisted writer. Some sentences are ungrammatical; some are incomprehensible; very few have any esthetic appeal. Moreover, Martin uses a technique in which quotations from Johnson--ranging from long ones to single words--are inserted into Martin's sentences, through the use of quotation marks. (A random example: "His temperature rose as he sarcastically exposed the bathos of 'fever of epidemic patriotism'.") This technique presents Johnson's words without their context, sometimes making it difficult to appreciate what he meant. Occasionally it is even difficult to tell whose words are whose.

Should anyone who has yet not made Dr. Johnson's acquaintance happen to be reading these notes: this book is not for you. You should begin with Boswell's book, one of the greatest in the language, and thus be welcomed into the circle of Johnson's friends. Those who are already members of the Club will feel they have to read Martin's book, but many, I think, will then make haste to put it out of their minds. The one person for whom this book is definitely recommended is the scholar who needs every detail of Johnson's life, because he is writing scholarly works himself.

This was a terrific book to read about one of the intellectual giants from Western civilization. The average reader is probably more familiar with the occasional Johnson quote but unfamiliar with his life or massive body of work. Author Peter Martin gives us a wide retrospective on Johnson's life, showing us how the man was as deeply complicated as he was intelligent. We get to see not only his deep penetrating mind at work but also the internal battles that he fought regarding his own fears and deficiencies. That he did not receive a degree or finish his formal education was probably a blessing for the rest of us because his moral acuity and insight is steeped in the reality of everyday existence. He was no ivory tower academic but a man who lived through pervasive poverty and profound bouts of depression, yet always reaching for higher lights and searching for moral strongholds in every situation. His deep religious faith was central to Johnson, whose mental struggles were made the more harsh by his own admittedly difficult personality as well as by his physical appearance and odd gesticulations.

His writing output was unbelievable, penning a new edition of the English dictionary, a critical edition of all of Shakespeare's plays, biographies of major english poets, and innumerous essays, pamphlets and book prefaces. He even ghost wrote a good number of sermons on behalf of a pastor friend. He was so intelligent that his contemporaries sometimes avoided his company out of fear of being humiliated in argument. Today he might be called a polymath or a Renaissance man, and it is a shame that our educational institutions for the most part are no longer designed to produce such men or women with any consistency. Who are or were today's counterparts: George Will, Hubert Humphrey, William F. Buckley?

Martin's presentation also draws much sympathy from the reader as he describes Johnson's struggles with procrastination, depression, temptations to infidelity, confused feelings towards his loved ones, sibling rivalry, and just about every other situation that all humans confront regularly. Martin also shows us a compassionate side to Johnson, who helped friends not only by writing for them but also by putting them up in his home as well as giving them financial aid.

Johnson was also one of the last truly authentic people, who lived by his convictions and did not shirk from speaking the truth. This often made him a sort of social pariah, but in the end one wishes that more people were like that and that facades were less common.

Although the term "man of letters" didn't come into its own until the Victorian age, it applies as much to the eighteenth-century literary lion Samuel Johnson as it does to his nineteenth-century successors. He wrote poetry, a play, a novel, law lectures, sermons, prayers, literary biographies, and essays. He edited periodicals and compiled the first modern English dictionary. That dictionary has served as a model for English-language lexicographers ever since and is the direct ancestor of the desk dictionaries we consult regularly. Of course, the most famous biography of Johnson was written by his Scottish friend James Boswell. Since then, many fine biographies have been written. Most notable among modern studies are those by John Wain, James Clifford, and W. Jackson Bate. Now Peter Martin has essayed Johnson's life anew.
Martin's Johnson was, as all modern biographers agree he was, physically large and strong, intellectually brilliant, deeply religious, sociable, compassionate, and obstinate.Probably suffering from Tourette's Syndrome, Johnson's twitches, tics, and outbursts might have put people off, and yet the Great Cham had a circle of friends that encompassed many of the leading actors, artists, and political thinkers of his time. For Americans, one of Peter Martin's emphases is particularly interesting: Johnson's opposition to the American Revolution. Opposed to slavery and to the slave trade, Johnson took a young black man into his house as a servant, educated him, and left him a sizable sum in his will. Martin points out, correctly, that Johnson saw clearly and denounced the hypocrisy of Americans arguing for "freedom" whilst simultaneously holding and trading slaves.
Samuel Johnson was a complex and endlessly fascinating man, not because he kicked every third lamppost as he walked down the street, but because of the power of his mind and the generosity of his character. Peter Martin does him justice in this new evaluation of Johnson's life and career.

There are many impressions that are conjured when reflecting on the long life of Dr. Samuel Johnson. What tops the list is the enormity, the scale of the life lived and the productivity realized despite the equally large burdens that he carried from birth to the end. Nearly dying of early childhood diseases, the worst of which was scrofula, which scarred him around the neck and led somehow to impaired eyesight and hearing. Given the times in which he lived, seen from our point of view, we could be generous in saying it was before modern medicine; I say generous because the methodologies of a pre-microscope science were crude, barbaric and wrong. It is equally amazing that he survived the gruesome applications of the medical techniques of his day, including but not restricted to copious, nearly fatal blood letting. What is also interesting is how his unquenchable thirst for knowledge brought him into a serious study of advanced research into various treatments. Sometimes recklessly he would administer potions, concoctions, poultices and blends of various types of compounds derived from some flower, herb or other natural growth. At the end of his life, when the drug 'digitalis' had been discovered, he nearly killed himself by self application of a massive dose. He was also fearless in his puncturing of his veins to bleed himself, sometimes again taking too much blood.

Johnson was a tall man, just under 6 feet with a large torso, neck, arms and trunk. He looked from his young days somewhat odd in his body proportions but was possessed of substantial physical strength and stamina. (There were stories told of how, when angered, he could toss someone still sitting in a chair, both sent flying through the air.) He had stout legs and was known to easily walk to the next town, sometimes over 30 miles distance, without complaint. When younger he enjoyed robust outbursts of physical exercise such as swimming in lakes or the ocean, running with great speed and leaping over rails, all to great personal joy. He maintained a frolicsome and somewhat child-like ease with flinging that large body about; one of his personal favorite activities was to roll himself down a steep hill, probably laughing quite a bit. Part of this overt physicality he later used to shock, titillate or show off his manly powers to men and women.

Late into his adolescence he began exhibiting involuntary muscular spasms that caused his arms or legs to fling themselves out. Sadly he displayed a life long twitching in his facial muscles as well as chomping his jaws as if he was chewing on something. Further he later on developed a see-sawing motion of his body, seemingly incapable most of the time from rocking or twisting his body about in contortions (when he was seated) all of which shocked and appalled those who were new to him; those who came to know, love and admire him just let him be and although they had no more knowledge than he as to the cause they accepted his many odd peculiarities as non threatening. He lost most sight in one eye and was basically deaf in one ear. Although nearly completely short sighted it appears that he never did get fitted for reading glasses and all his life he had to hold books and manuscripts almost right up to his eyes before he could read the print. He squinted almost always as a way of trying to focus on someone or thing close by.

Today there are some considered medical opinions that he probably came down with Tourette's Syndrome. He was ill most of his life with one malady or the other, some of which was complicated and exacerbated by his eating habits. Although in his older years he often ate great gluttonous quantities of meat, he also had a great love of eating fruit. He was known for extremes and tales of drinking binges of cups of tea beyond belief were also true. He grew obese as he grew wealthier - perhaps an overcompensation for the many years of hard poverty that he struggled with even after publishing his trail blazing first books and tracts. He had rough and perhaps slovenly eating habits and perhaps from near blindness probably made a mess when eating. For lengthy portions of his life he drank large quantities of wine and for equally long periods of time he drank no alcohol whatsoever. In his last days he grew addicted to opium (laudanum) as the only way to get sleep; the negative effects of near hallucination in frightening dreams only added to his torment.

There has been much written about his physical ailments even starting in his own era. A fascinating essay sheds much light on his sufferings that even Boswell was not aware of. I found "Samuel Johnson's childhood illnesses and the King's Evil" by Lawrence C. Mc Henry Jr. and Ronald Mac Keith to be very informative.

Peter Martin has done a huge amount of research. His approach is to humanize the man rather than to hold him up as some sort of freakish near savant, all of which he partially was. Given his early shyness and discomfort with the appearance he created, Johnson often retreated into libraries where he would devour books without end. Sitting in fields reading while others went to church was normal for him. In short he became one of the most learned man of letters in the entire century, most of which was self taught in some manner.

Johnson's relationships with his mother, father and brother frame the mental and emotional substance of his personality. These were not easy times and from impoverished and reduced circumstances he strove to follow his creative impulses, to write, from his first days at Oxford, short as they were. Once entered upon, finding himself a very capable poet, he eventually turned his mind towards the great Dictionary project, mostly for want of funds to live by. This too is a theme in which we see Johnson constantly taking up projects that would have been more than enough for one author to labor years at and then call it a day as an author, but with Johnson it went from project to project all the way to old age.

Martin constantly points to the difficult emotional state that Sam labored under. Nothing was more onerous than the propensity to deep depression; today we would say that he had a tendency to clinical depression and modern doctors would surely have given him Prozac. Sam called it "the black dog" and he knew full well what it could do to a mind. To combat the destructive powers of the mind turned against itself, fearing loneliness all his life, he made sure he was surrounded as much as possible with people who tolerated him, excited him and most importantly, would talk with him until late into the middle of the night. He had very exaggerated habits, such as drinking 14 cups of tea, one after the other, in one long conversation. Indolence, or avoidance of productive work (writing) was his constant shadow and he usually fought it on the loosing side. When taking up his projects, which were always gigantic in proportion and scope, he would prevaricate and stall, distracting himself sometimes for years before really taking up pen to write, sometimes only because his benefactors who had fronted him a lot of money for the project grew restless with his non production. Another habit seems to have been his ability to formulate ideas for his writing, storing them up in his mind, capable of prodigious and wide memory, until such time as he actually forced himself to sit down and write. On those occasions the writing erupted out of his hands like a volcano, where he was able to write entire books and treatises in what was thought to be super human efforts, not seen by any contemporary writer. When in full flow, his writing was astounding in clarity.

What sets the great "Cham" apart from his contemporaries are many things, most of which are his candidness, his love of truth no matter the discomfort of the report, his deep and penetrating insights into life and his moral teachings which almost all people still feel are most attractive and instructive. He hated slavery and railed against it in the same fulsome manner that he chastised the American Revolution as bogus and without sufficient justifications. He was capable of intellectual contradictions, or so they would appear to us but he was also known to be overly generous and very charitable to anyone, almost strangers who came into his sphere. Although never a rich man, he allowed his homes to be refuges to the down and outs.

His marriage to a much older widow raised eyebrows then as now. He grew much more disconsolate and testy after she passed. His emotional neediness to be near loving and (overly) attentive and attractive ladies helped him feel wanted and kept the black dog partially at bay. His relationship with the Thrale family and in particular to Mrs. Thrale is enough for a book unto itself. He lived with them for over 13 years, on and off and although he displayed an often caustic temperament, was doted on and loved as part of the family. She helped care for him for many years as his health often was very bad.

The great friendship with the young Scottish writer/lawyer/dandy James Boswell is legendary and Martin gives a full account of the close intimacy between the great man and the young aspiring author who was in awe of him. Boswell went on to write what is still considered one of the greatest biographies in the English language. We know much about Johnson from Boswell's rich and detailed discourse. However, Martin has pointed out that Boswell edited out certain facts about Johnson's behavior that he felt would sully the image he was crafting. Martin goes about filling in those deletions and what we come away with is an even deeper appreciation for Johnson.

Felt even now to be the literary lion of the 18th Century, having produced so many influential books, articles, his dictionary, seminal criticisms of Shakespeare and the major poets, one cannot over state how important he was as a writer. Martin feels safe in saying that (at least perhaps in the U.K.) Johnson is the second most quoted person in the language, the preeminent top spot of course for Shakespeare.

What I was just riveted by was the enormous sickness, mental, physical and emotional that Johnson struggled with; in spite of the travail that this life long series of afflictions rained down on him, his mind was able to send out blazing shafts of concise and penetrating thoughts that put aside the heavy weights that his infirmities crushed him with. In short: writing saved Johnson from totally collapsing into insanity or suicide. He lived long (for his era) and although someone who felt an unending sense of guilt about his own behavior and lack of moral and religious refinements, he was by far one of the most productive writers of the century. That he was able to leave such a rich legacy to the world, all of it conceived under the worst forms of physical and mental oppression, is ample testimony to the fierce struggles of his soul to accomplish the objectives set out from his youth. He wanted to teach, to clarify, to assist his society into shaking off the ignorance of superstitions and foolhardy beliefs. Although deemed a stoic and given to lecturing (sometimes hectoring) people into loosening their attachments to the joys and griefs of a too short life time, his words of wisdom, especially in his Rambler essays, give much comfort to the readers, who in their own dark nights of the soul would do worse than to turn to Johnson for a light at the end of dim tunnels. I so love to read Johnson (there is so much to explore). Peter Martin's book was a joy from front to back and I cannot praise this book enough. I quite agree with Christopher Hitchens in his review of the book. For all Johnson fans, this is the book to dive into. Splendid, by turns hilarious and deeply troubling, a fantastic book.

When I had completed reading Peter Martin's biography of Samuel Johnson, I simply applauded. With a writing style worthy of the subject, Mr. Martin's work epitomizes the contributions of the great moralist and lexicographer. As he probably intended, the author has enabled his subject again to "unfold for [the reader] endless shades of morality [while] guiding [the reader] into the labyrinths of human nature itself an open book - making his own human nature the greatest text (Preface p. xxiii).

Compare another recent biography of Johnson, "Samuel Johnson: The Struggle," Jeffrey Meyers, Basic Books (December 1, 2008), whose desire to unfold the new undergirds his interpretations. While insightful in many ways, this well-written and entertaining contribution to Johnson biography is diminished in value by Meyers' fixation on Johnson's relationship with Hester Thrale and his suppositions about bondage and flagellation that call to mind the need for a cause of action addressing defamation of the dead. While Dr. Johnson certainly urged the biographer to ascertain and disclose the truth in the writing, his advice is conditioned by "knowledge" and "truth."("If we owe regard to the memory of the dead, there is yet more respect to be paid to knowledge, to virtue, and to truth." - Rambler #60; "Defamation is sufficiently copious. The general lampooner of mankind may find long exercise for his zeal or wit, in the defects of nature, the vexations of life, the follies of opinion, and the corruptions of practice. But fiction is easier than discernment; and most of these writers spare themselves the labour of inquiry, and exhaust their virulence upon imaginary crimes, which, as they never existed, can never be amended." - Idler #45 ). Martin's account of the 1773 "French Letter" that Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale revealing that he was then in the throes of the "black dog" and alluding to an unexplained recipe for comfort (Martin, pp. 388-390) is handled much more responsibly than Meyers (Meyers, p. 360-365); the former dismissing the assertions of Katherine Balderston, the latter convinced of their truth.

Read both of these volumes and then again (or, perhaps, for the first time) Boswell's biography of Johnson and you will appreciate this man who loved words because of their potential for both subjective and objective improvement.

Accounts of Dr. Johnson's life of wistfulness has brought joy and instruction to unforeseen generations. A reading of Peter Martin's account of that life, faithful to the record, likewise pleasurably informs.

Of note also is the comprehensive index of the Martin biography, far superior to that of Meyers' work. It accentuates the precision and care of the writer.

When did you stay up late into the night reading about the 18th century, feeling as if you were at the Turk's Head Tavern, listening to Johnson in the wee hours of the morning? This is a marvellous book! This fall I tried to read Boswell's Life of Johnson, but was a bit frustrated about my own lack of background knowledge. I remembered visiting Johnson's house years ago...but now I feel as if I know him well. Martin's biography was captivating for the details about Johnson's relationships with his friends and relatives, including Joshua Reynolds, Oliver Goldsmith, and David Garrick. Johnson was a mentor and a benefactor. I was fascinated by Johnson's late night ramblings around the city, his secret meeting with George III, and his suprising dinner with Wilkes. Despite Johnson's uncouth physical presence, Martin shows us the tender mercies of this great man--even though he could be contradictory (anti-slave and anti-American Revolution). Tomorrow I start on Martin's book about Boswell and I can't wait!

All those who desire to learn about Dr. Johnson will want to own and read this one-volume biography by Peter Martin. It is a solid retelling, with modest new insights, of the life--and the focus here is on the life, not the times--of the strongest contributor to the elevation of the English language.

As an aside, Professor Martin mentions John Wilkes several times in his book on Samuel Johnson. Those wishing to learn more about this quite interesting figure in English politics should read the excellent "John Wilkes" by Arthur H. Cash and published in 2006.

Readers who have yet to read James Boswell's "Life of Johnson" must do so at once.

I believe this book is beyond intellectual achievement. Do believe it was written for the educational community. It is a most difficult read but I will finish and perhaps the last half of the book will "turn me on". C.J. Layden