Samuel Johnson and the Making of Modern England

Hudson examines Samuel Johnson's contribution to the creation of the modern English identity.

Samuel Johnson, one of the most renowned authors of the eighteenth century, became virtually a symbol of English national identity in the century following his death in 1784. In Samuel Johnson and the Making of Modern England Nicholas Hudson argues that Johnson not only came to personify English cultural identity but did much to shape it. Hudson examines his contribution to the creation of the modern English identity, approaching Johnson's writing and conversation from scarcely explored directions of cultural criticism - class politics, feminism, party politics, the public sphere, nationalism and imperialism. Hudson charts the career of an author who rose from obscurity to fame during precisely the period that England became the dominant ideological force in the Western world. In exploring the relations between Johnson's career and the development of England's modern national identity, Hudson develops provocative arguments concerning both Johnson's literary achievement and the nature of English Nationhood.

Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. From 'rank' to 'class': the changing structures of social hierarchy; 2. Constructing the middle-class woman; 3. From 'broad-bottom' to 'party': the rise of modern English politics; 4. 'The voice of the nation': the evolution of the 'public'; 5. The construction of English nationhood; 6. The material and ideological development of the British Empire; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Johnson, one of the most renowned authors of the eighteenth century, became a symbol of English national identity in the century following his death in 1784. Hudson examines his contribution to the creation of the modern English identity, focusing on his attitudes towards class, party politics, the public sphere and imperialism.

Nicholas Hudson is Professor of English at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Samuel Johnson and Eighteenth-Century Thought (1988), Writing and European Thought, 1600–1830 (Cambridge, 1994), and of numerous essays on eighteenth-century literature, thought and culture.