11-21-2019, 07:27 PM
Hello, anyone who might be following! I'll be cleaning up this thread sometime soon, as I'm expanding the scope of this little project, to better reflect the larger library I am assembling -- a library I can't really share, since some of its books aren't free.
For now, here are the list of the books I will be assembling and here presenting:
The Plays of William Shakespeare, edited and annotated by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens
The intersection between poet and critic, which I hope would be of great use to the poets and critics of this site.
Characters of Shakespeare's Plays by William Hazlitt
Where Johnson's mode is neoclassical, Hazlitt's mode is romantic; having this particular critic's work on show would be an enlightening response, both to our poet and our critic. I might expand this project a bit to include more of Hazlitt's work, as he touches on some of the works here to be included specifically, but for now....
Shakespeare's Sonnets
Not touched on by Dr. Johnson but discussed, positively if briefly, by Mr. Hazlitt, I like this collection of poems a lot, so I'm including these here.
Sir Phillip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella
An important model for the sonnets. Already included in the download link.
Plays of Christopher Marlowe
I don't know which edition I'll use, but par for the course, it must be antiquated. An important model for Shakespeare's earlier tragedies and histories.
Select Plays of Ben Jonson
I'm not sure which edition I'll use for these either, but certainly not the folio -- I want to keep this collection as brief as my current purpose would allow it to be. Some of Shakespeare's plays respond to these.
The Essays of Montaigne. Done into English by John Florio
The only reference work used by Shakespeare to be included here, largely because this is more readable than the Apuleius or the Chronicles that could be included here, but also because I have heard the translation itself is of some intrinsic value.
A Dictionary of the English Language
A possible aide to understanding some of the works here. Though, really, with Google and the like, this isn't so important for being an aide as it is for being Dr. Johnson's other masterpiece and, with some of its selections and quirks, for being wildly entertaining.
The Idler
A periodical written by Doctor Johnson between the first edition of his dictionary and the first edition of his Shakespeare, which is the period of Doctor Johnson's copious amount of writing to which we shall limit ourselves.
Rasselas
A philosophical novella written by the same critic during the same period.
Possible additions to this list are:
Boswell's Life of Johnson
Addison and Steele's The Spectator, an important influence on the many periodicals Dr. Johnson wrote
Steele's The Tatler, itself influential on the preceding work
more works by Hazlitt: perhaps his lectures on the dramatists contemporary to Shakespeare, as well as his Political Essays, Table-Talk, Liber Amoris, The Spirit of the Age, and The Plain Speaker
For now, here are the list of the books I will be assembling and here presenting:
The Plays of William Shakespeare, edited and annotated by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens
The intersection between poet and critic, which I hope would be of great use to the poets and critics of this site.
Characters of Shakespeare's Plays by William Hazlitt
Where Johnson's mode is neoclassical, Hazlitt's mode is romantic; having this particular critic's work on show would be an enlightening response, both to our poet and our critic. I might expand this project a bit to include more of Hazlitt's work, as he touches on some of the works here to be included specifically, but for now....
Shakespeare's Sonnets
Not touched on by Dr. Johnson but discussed, positively if briefly, by Mr. Hazlitt, I like this collection of poems a lot, so I'm including these here.
Sir Phillip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella
An important model for the sonnets. Already included in the download link.
Plays of Christopher Marlowe
I don't know which edition I'll use, but par for the course, it must be antiquated. An important model for Shakespeare's earlier tragedies and histories.
Select Plays of Ben Jonson
I'm not sure which edition I'll use for these either, but certainly not the folio -- I want to keep this collection as brief as my current purpose would allow it to be. Some of Shakespeare's plays respond to these.
The Essays of Montaigne. Done into English by John Florio
The only reference work used by Shakespeare to be included here, largely because this is more readable than the Apuleius or the Chronicles that could be included here, but also because I have heard the translation itself is of some intrinsic value.
A Dictionary of the English Language
A possible aide to understanding some of the works here. Though, really, with Google and the like, this isn't so important for being an aide as it is for being Dr. Johnson's other masterpiece and, with some of its selections and quirks, for being wildly entertaining.
The Idler
A periodical written by Doctor Johnson between the first edition of his dictionary and the first edition of his Shakespeare, which is the period of Doctor Johnson's copious amount of writing to which we shall limit ourselves.
Rasselas
A philosophical novella written by the same critic during the same period.
Possible additions to this list are:
Boswell's Life of Johnson
Addison and Steele's The Spectator, an important influence on the many periodicals Dr. Johnson wrote
Steele's The Tatler, itself influential on the preceding work
more works by Hazlitt: perhaps his lectures on the dramatists contemporary to Shakespeare, as well as his Political Essays, Table-Talk, Liber Amoris, The Spirit of the Age, and The Plain Speaker