James Boswell

1740-1795. Scotsman, diarist, biographer.

James Boswell was born into a Scottish aristocratic family on 18 October 1740. His father was a judge [was he?]. [He was somehow educated]. He was forced to study Law to fulfill his father's wish. Though he was a successful lawyer by profession, but later became famous for his biography The Life of Samuel Johnson published in 1791. Johnson and Boswell met each other on 16 May 1763, just one year after Boswell went to London. After Johnson's death in 1784, Boswell decided to compile his famous friend's writings, papers and his own experience with him travelling to different places and turned it into a biography. This book gave him the title of 'the great Biographer' [source needed] because of the unique representation of the various sides of Johnson. This book is also admired as 'the greatest biography in English language' [source needed].

His straighforward and honest view of the eighteenth society, culture and elite literary figures became the public interest after the publication of his London Journal of 1762-1763, which was discovered in 1920. His acknowledgement as a diarist turned into a travel book writer after the publication of Account of Corsica (translated into four languages), The Journal of a Tour to That Island, and Memoirs of Pascal Paoli in 1768. Another famous travel piece of Boswell is Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. His other famous works are Dorando, a Spanish Tale [never heard of it; explain "famous", give year of first publication], The Hypochondriack (essays) etc. In cultural memory, James Boswell's name is associated with a person 'who records the observations in a very detailed way' [source needed].

Just after four years of the publication of his most famous work, on 19 May 1795, at the age of 55 he died in London due to illness.

Works Cited

Beveridge, Allan. “Talking about Madness and Melancholy: Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson.” Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, vol. 19, no. 5, Sept. 2013, pp. 392–398.

Pottle, Frederick A.. "James Boswell". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 May. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Boswell. Accessed 2 July 2023.

Stenton, Alison. "Boswell, James (1740–1795)." Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Encyclopedia.com. 29 Jun. 2023 <https://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Team, National Records of Scotland Web. “Boswell, James.” National Records of Scotland, 31 May 2013, www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/learning/hall-of-fame/hall-of-fame-a-z/boswell-james. Accessed 2 July 2023.