DOI: 10.5176/2251-3566_L315.51
Authors: Dr. Nazia Hasan
Abstract:
James Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson is still praised as the best biography ever written in English Literature. The book no doubt, took the art of narration and memoire writing to a higher pedestal because of the various new techniques introduced by Boswell. But a modern reader finds Johnson to be in an offensive mood, at times, especially when talking of women in this book; although some women occur repeatedly in various discussions- Mrs. Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi being one of them. She is talked about more as a threat than an accomplished writer and a thoughtful, sympathetic companion of Johnson. Mrs. Thrale’s autobiographically rich book Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson L.L.D., during the Last Twenty Years of His Life was banished as a gossiping, light tempered collection of details about the great Cham of Literature. The present research paper is an effort to recuperate this closest female friend and host of Johnson (for almost 20 years). Unlike the harsh criticism heaped on her work, the new readings find her to be a generous and true account presenter. Was the maligning caused by her scandalous second marriage with the Italian musician? Was it because she frustrated the literary circle’s calculation regarding her marriage or was it simply because she happened to be a person unable to succumb to the 18th century norms of womanhood?
Keywords: Boswell, Thrale, Johnson, women, independence, literary society.
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