Johnson's Dictionary and the Language of Learning

by Robert DeMaria Jr.

Although the Dictionary is primarily a philological work, DeMaria shows how it also serves literary, moral, and educational purposes. By analyzing the content of the 116,000 illustrative quotations used by Johnson, the author illuminates the major themes of the knowledge and ignorance, truth and probabiity, learning and education, language, religion, and morality. Johnson's choice of which quotations to include represents his vision of the intellectual landscape.

317 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1986

About the author

Robert DeMaria, Jr. is the Henry Noble MacCracken Professor of English at Vassar College. His main area of study is eighteenth-century British Literature and, in particular, Samuel Johnson.