How fans meet famous people: The Pocket University 4-5 August 2023
Boswell just had to meet the guy. And he did, and it changed his life. These excerpts paint a picture of the weirdness, wit and charisma of Samuel Johnson and his greatest biographer.
You may have heard of Samuel Johnson. And you may have heard of his friend’s biography, a famous one.
That friend was James Boswell.
And James Boswell, in these snippets, shares some moments when he wanted to meet Johnson, and when Johnson met other friends in their literary circle, and a last meeting before Boswell went a long time before he saw Johnson again.
It sounds boring. It’s really just detailed anecdotes and memories of a fan (Boswell) of a great literary wit (Johnson) who writes so long and so well about the man that he cements his own legacy as a writer and creates a fawning and congratulating, as well as peppery and critical, vision of a great man.
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