Samuel Johnson: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics)

Johnson is a bit problematic for the modern reader, I suspect. He was a scholar, he was a critic, he was a lexicographer, he was a novelist, he was an essayist, he was a poet. His straightforward intelligence was rigorously formal, and we are not used to that in our era. We tend to compartmentalize authors, and Johnson would not fit in modern categories. His poetry was formal and intellectual; although he has a relatively small body of work, he was an absolute master. This book is a very good introduction to his work, but I purchased it for its selection of Doctor Johnson's poetry, and I am very glad I did. This is a book to read and return to through a lifetime. Here be depths.

well worth it just for the fact it contains parts of the hard to find and expensive The Rambler" works. not for the light readers but his thoughs and messages come across quite clear. an astute reader of human nature and social challenges and changes that happened and are happening now. i am a huge english lit nerd,so keep that in mind.

This compilation is ideal for the novice reader of Johnson. A wide selection of his writings are included, particularly those which are of interest to the contemporary reader such as the introduction to his dictionary, his introduction to the works of Shakespeare and his novella Rasselas.I particularly enjoyed that Johnson writes like a modern intellectual. Although part of the great tradition of English writers that started in the Elizabethan Renaissance, Johnson seems closer to a Christopher Hitchens than a Butler or a Laud.As other reviewers have noted, this is a selection to read and reread every so often. Every reading is sure to deliver new insights into the human condition.I only wish that more American high schools and colleges would introduce writers like Johnson into their curriculum. Young readers should find him surprisingly interesting and pertinent to modern issues.

If you are a Samuel Johnson fan, this is the collection you want, it will keep you busy for years if you can handle that much of Johnson's concentrated mind and style.

Oldie but goodie

Works by a great intellectual!

Something to read over a good glass of Sherry and your favorite pipe.

There are reasons for getting hardback copies of these books - you don't break the spine at your first perusal for a start. And they don't push the page margins and typeface to the point that you need those special glasses and thin thumbs just to read it. These comments apply to this paperback only.As to the content, you will find many of your favourites here, truncated sometimes for no reasons apparent, and mixed with quotidia of interest only to Johnsonian scholars. The Index is a mess, and the Contents Table will have you breaking the spine even more.I would condemn it to Kindle/IPad, except that neither could produce a search engine sophisticated enough to understand the nuance and intelligence behind his simple prattle.