In this book John Radner examines the fluctuating, close, and complex friendship enjoyed by Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, from the day they met in 1763 to the day when Boswell published his monumental Life of Johnson . Drawing on everything Johnson and Boswell wrote to and about the other, this book charts the psychological currents that flowed between them as they scripted and directed their time together, questioned and advised, confided and held back. It explores the key longings and shifting tensions that distinguished this from each man's other long-term friendships, while it tracks in detail how Johnson and Boswell brought each other to life, challenged and confirmed each other, and used their deepening friendship to define and assess themselves. It tells a story that reaches through its specificity into the dynamics of most sustained friendships, with their breaks and reconnections, their silences and fresh intimacies, their continuities and transformations. Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2013 in the English American Category. -- Outstanding Academic Title ― Choice Published On: 2014-01-21 Winner of the 2015 Annibel Jenkins Biography Prize given by the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. -- Annibel Jenkins Biography Prize ― American society for eighteenth-century Studies Published On: 2015-04-16 John B. Radner is associate professor of English emeritus at George Mason University. Johnson and Boswell A BIOGRAPHY OF FRIENDSHIP By JOHN B. RADNER Yale UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright © 2012 Yale University All right reserved. ISBN: 978-0-300-17875-3 Contents Preface..............................................................................................................................................ixIntroduction.........................................................................................................................................11 Taking Charge of Boswell (1763)....................................................................................................................112 "Perpetual Friendship"? (1764–1767)...........................................................................................................363 Jostling for Control (1768–1771)..............................................................................................................584 New Collaborations (1772)..........................................................................................................................825 Embracing the Biographer (1772–1773)..........................................................................................................996 Cooperation and Rivalry in Scotland (14 August to 22 November 1773)................................................................................1137 Negotiating and Competing for Narrative Control (14 August to 22 November 1773)....................................................................1328 Collaboration Manqué (November 1773 to May 1775)..............................................................................................1499 Renegotiating the Friendship, Part 1 (1775–1777): Depression, Defiance, and Dependency........................................................16910 Renegotiating the Friendship, Part 2 (1777–1778): Confrontation, Collaboration, and Celebration..............................................19211 "Strangers to Each Other" (May 1778 to March 1781)................................................................................................21412 The Lives of the Poets and Johnson's (Auto)biography (1777–1781).............................................................................23213 Reconnecting (1781–1783).....................................................................................................................24614 "Some Time Together before We Are Parted" (March 1783 to May 1784)................................................................................26515 "Love Me as Well as You Can" (1784)...............................................................................................................28416 Rewriting the Hebrides Trip (1785)................................................................................................................30117 Boswell Claiming His Inheritance (1786–1791).................................................................................................31518 Winning Johnson's Blessing........................................................................................................................339Appendix: Key Events in Lives of Samuel Johnson (SJ) and James Boswell (JB), Days They Were Together, and Letters They Exchanged.....................355Cue Titles and Abbreviations.........................................................................................................................359Notes..........................................................