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Review
'Nokes's terrific biography, the best of the many publications which have appeared to mark this year's tri-centenary of the Great Cham's birth.' --Kathryn Hughes, Guardian -- Book of the Week
'Admirably keen on drama, colour and well-quoted dialogue, [Nokes] drops us in the thick of the action... this tale can never fail, but Nokes does it proud.' --Boyd Tonkin, Independent -- Book of the Week
'Johnson was a lovable man. That is why, 300 years after his birth, we want to read about him, not just in Boswell's self-centred book, but in yet another outstanding, lifelike David Nokes biography.' --Daily Telegraph --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
'Admirably keen on drama, colour and well-quoted dialogue, [Nokes] drops us in the thick of the action... this tale can never fail, but Nokes does it proud.' --Boyd Tonkin, Independent -- Book of the Week
'Johnson was a lovable man. That is why, 300 years after his birth, we want to read about him, not just in Boswell's self-centred book, but in yet another outstanding, lifelike David Nokes biography.' --Daily Telegraph --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Book Description
From leading biographer David Nokes, an original and hugely rewarding portrait of Samuel Johnson, one of the great figures of English Literature.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Patently yes, because I'll warrant that while loads of people will have heard of Boswell's life, very few will have read all of it. I know I haven't, and I know that many previous more modern biographies are available so what makes this one worth reading? Well it is very well written. Any thoughts of this being a high brow book should be dispelled immedaitely and so should any that it is a sensationalist volume. It is just very "readable", a hopeless word I know, but what it means for me is that you get dragged into the narative and then bustled along with the story. Much of Johnson's wit and irascibility is recorded and put into context and his relationships with family and friends and of course Boswell is sympathetically but not uncritically recorded. I have only ever read " A journey to the Western Isles" and this book has made me yearn for more. this is a fascinating biography of a great, and quite misunderstood man, although the Blackadder depiction is quite accurate as regards johnson's ego.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
David Nokes's Life of Johnson fails to explain how such a deeply unattractive - in many ways revolting man - could ever have been venerated by Mrs Thrale or indeed thought "clubbable".
In presenting the insanitary Johnson, warts, farts and all, alongside the undoubted literary genius and the meticulous researcher against the chronically work-averse journalist, Nokes leaves the reader to unravel, if he can, the wildest contradictions. Having chosen to explore so much of the intimate detail, should he not have given a better account of how it shapes his subject's writing? I want to hear his explanation.
Interesting, readable as this biography is, in the end it leaves one feeling argumentative...ah well, down to the Club, then.
In presenting the insanitary Johnson, warts, farts and all, alongside the undoubted literary genius and the meticulous researcher against the chronically work-averse journalist, Nokes leaves the reader to unravel, if he can, the wildest contradictions. Having chosen to explore so much of the intimate detail, should he not have given a better account of how it shapes his subject's writing? I want to hear his explanation.
Interesting, readable as this biography is, in the end it leaves one feeling argumentative...ah well, down to the Club, then.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Nokes On SJ
25 Nov 2009
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
It is to civilization's benefit that biographies of Samuel Johnson abound, especially in and near the 300th anniversary year of his birth.
David Nokes provides his version of the life in a straightforward text drawn mainly from the letters and other published material of the era related directly to Dr. Johnson. However, there is little help here for the common reader describing the times in which he lived. And, Professor Nokes is one who values the importance of Hester Thrale, far above that of James Boswell, to Doctor Johnson's actual life. (While the Professor is most likely correct on this point, I would much rather have spent an evening or two bending an elbow in London with Boswell than with Thrale.)
This is a good, competent biography; but I would first recommend to interested readers last year's effort by Jeffrey Meyers over the one reviewed here. And I would even more highly recommend "Selected Writings of Samuel Johnson" as edited by Peter Martin. Lastly, please read Boswell's famous work if this book lies unread in your library. (If not in your library, buy it.)
David Nokes provides his version of the life in a straightforward text drawn mainly from the letters and other published material of the era related directly to Dr. Johnson. However, there is little help here for the common reader describing the times in which he lived. And, Professor Nokes is one who values the importance of Hester Thrale, far above that of James Boswell, to Doctor Johnson's actual life. (While the Professor is most likely correct on this point, I would much rather have spent an evening or two bending an elbow in London with Boswell than with Thrale.)
This is a good, competent biography; but I would first recommend to interested readers last year's effort by Jeffrey Meyers over the one reviewed here. And I would even more highly recommend "Selected Writings of Samuel Johnson" as edited by Peter Martin. Lastly, please read Boswell's famous work if this book lies unread in your library. (If not in your library, buy it.)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Unexciting
5 Mar 2010
Format:Hardcover
Difficult as it may be to write an uninspiring biography of Samuel Johnson, David Nokes has almost succeeded in this book, which is redeemed more by the occasional flashes of Johnson's own wit than by any great felicity of style on the part of the biographer. Even Harold Bloom, in praising Nokes' book, could find no more flattering adjective than "workmanlike" to describe Nokes' writing. One of the great pleasures of reading about a man like Johnson is to become immersed in the great man's overwhelming personality, wit, conversation, and aphorisms. Unfortunately, Nokes's biography doesn't come up to such a standard.
What the reader does get, in reading Nokes, is a workmanlike (there's that word again) account of the progression of Johnson's life; Nokes builds the structure by piling up detail and incident, with some but not a lot of generalizing and interpretation. There's nothing wrong with that approach in general, but in this particular case I found the result a bit too uninspiring to give it a strong recommendation.
What the reader does get, in reading Nokes, is a workmanlike (there's that word again) account of the progression of Johnson's life; Nokes builds the structure by piling up detail and incident, with some but not a lot of generalizing and interpretation. There's nothing wrong with that approach in general, but in this particular case I found the result a bit too uninspiring to give it a strong recommendation.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
An Ordinary Biography of an Extraordinary Biographer
11 Jan 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this book after reading a lavish review of this book by Harold Bloom (titled: The Critic's Critic) in
the NY Times Book Review (Nov.8, 2009). I was disappointed with the early sections of the book, not just because of
my large expectations. In fact until it reaches a stage in Johnson's life when he becomes free from his nagging
poverty I found the book uninteresting. Following Johnson's literary success aand recognition after the publication
of the English language dictionary, the book picks up some momentum and becomes more interesting.
I thought there was far too much attention given to Johnson's deep relations with Mrs. Thrale. Far too little is
said about his servant Frank Barber to whom Johnson must have felt a special bond, having bequethed Barber most
of his wealth. One is left to wonder why so little is said about the latter relationship. Could it be because
not much material in terms of correspondence is available to shed light on this relationship? It should be observed that
the author Nokes relies heavily on correspondence (with very extensive quotes) for much of the book.
A positive feature of the book is the language partially helped by Johnson's own writings. Throughout the book I
could sense that the author is a gifted writer of the English language.
the NY Times Book Review (Nov.8, 2009). I was disappointed with the early sections of the book, not just because of
my large expectations. In fact until it reaches a stage in Johnson's life when he becomes free from his nagging
poverty I found the book uninteresting. Following Johnson's literary success aand recognition after the publication
of the English language dictionary, the book picks up some momentum and becomes more interesting.
I thought there was far too much attention given to Johnson's deep relations with Mrs. Thrale. Far too little is
said about his servant Frank Barber to whom Johnson must have felt a special bond, having bequethed Barber most
of his wealth. One is left to wonder why so little is said about the latter relationship. Could it be because
not much material in terms of correspondence is available to shed light on this relationship? It should be observed that
the author Nokes relies heavily on correspondence (with very extensive quotes) for much of the book.
A positive feature of the book is the language partially helped by Johnson's own writings. Throughout the book I
could sense that the author is a gifted writer of the English language.
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