Boswell's Authority as Reader and Critic of Johnson's Works

Boswell’s Life of Johnson is unique, and uniquely celebrated, for its record of Johnson’s conversation. However, Boswell did not neglect the other responsibilities of the biographer of a man of letters. This chapter considers the customarily overlooked or underestimated aspects of the book: Boswell’s introductory apologia for his biographical method, his diligent efforts to establish the canon of Johnson’s writing, his ambition to prepare an edition of Johnson’s poetry, and his extensive critical remarks on all of Johnson’s major works and many minor ones. Johnson’s career as a writer forms the framework, and much of the fabric, of the Life of Johnson .