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Samuel Johnson & the journey into words / Lynda Mugglestone.

By: Publisher: Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2015Edition: First editionDescription: xi, 290 pages : illustrations ; 23 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780199679904 (hbk.)
  • 0199679908 (hbk.)
Other title:
  • Samuel Johnson and the journey into words
Subject(s): Genre/Form: DDC classification:
  • 828.6/09 23
LOC classification:
  • PR3534 .M84 2015
Other classification:
  • 18.05
Contents:
1. Journeys into words -- 2. Writing the Dictionary: departures and destinations -- 3.`Excursions into books': documenting the new world of words -- 4. The ordered state: power, authority, and the written word -- 5. Meaning, governance, and the `colours of words' -- 6. Defending the citadel, patrolling the borders -- 7. History and the flux of time -- 8. The praise of perfection.
Summary: "Popular readings of Johnson as a dictionary-maker often see him as a writer who both laments and attempts to control the state of the language. Lynda Mugglestone looks at the range of Johnson's writings on, and the complexity of his thinking about, language and lexicography. She shows how these reveal him probing problems not just of meaning and use but what he considered the related issues of control, obedience, and justice, as well as the difficulties of power when exerted over the 'sea of words'. She examines his attitudes to language change, loan words, spelling, history, and authority, describing, too, the evolution of his ideas about the nature, purpose, and methods of lexicography, and shows how these reflect his own and others' thinking about politics, culture, and society. The book offers a careful reassessment of Johnson's prescriptive practice, examining in detail his commitment to evidence, and the uses to which this might be put."--Dust cover flap.
Holdings
Item type Current library Shelving location Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode
Book Book NMC Library Stacks PR3534 .M84 2015 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 33039001403996

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-279) and index.

"Popular readings of Johnson as a dictionary-maker often see him as a writer who both laments and attempts to control the state of the language. Lynda Mugglestone looks at the range of Johnson's writings on, and the complexity of his thinking about, language and lexicography. She shows how these reveal him probing problems not just of meaning and use but what he considered the related issues of control, obedience, and justice, as well as the difficulties of power when exerted over the 'sea of words'. She examines his attitudes to language change, loan words, spelling, history, and authority, describing, too, the evolution of his ideas about the nature, purpose, and methods of lexicography, and shows how these reflect his own and others' thinking about politics, culture, and society. The book offers a careful reassessment of Johnson's prescriptive practice, examining in detail his commitment to evidence, and the uses to which this might be put."--Dust cover flap.

1. Journeys into words -- 2. Writing the Dictionary: departures and destinations -- 3.`Excursions into books': documenting the new world of words -- 4. The ordered state: power, authority, and the written word -- 5. Meaning, governance, and the `colours of words' -- 6. Defending the citadel, patrolling the borders -- 7. History and the flux of time -- 8. The praise of perfection.

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