Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr Johnson's Dictionary

by Henry Hitchings

Book Overview

A Los Angeles Times Favorite Book of the Year In 1746, Samuel Johnson undertook the Herculean task of writing the first comprehensive English dictionary. Imagining he could complete the job in three... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374113025
• ISBN13: 9780374113025
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Words, Words, Words

Dr. Samuel Johnson created the first comprehensive English dictionary almost single-handedly, and this book traces the story of it's creation. Hitchings wrote his doctoral thesis on the same subject, and this book seems to be an expansion of his original work. The author is obviously well-researched on his subject, and this book is entertaining and informative, though sometimes slow and dry. The frame of the book is Johnson's life and the chapters are charmingly titled by a word and definition from the dictionary that is relevant to the chapter's subject matter, but the true meat and real delight of this book are the choice words and definitions Hitchings gleans from the original work and the anecdotes of Johnson's life that give glimpses into his mind. The writing of the dictionary was truly an achievement, and Hitchings traces Johnson's ingenuity, labors, and ultimate impact with great care. In every paragraph it is obvious that Hitchings is an expert in his material and he treats the subject matter with respect. In addition to the many historical facts he presents regarding Johnson's life and career, Hitchings seems to take delight in sharing as many definitions as he can squeeze in, especially the odd ones, and draws many conclusions about Johnson himself from how they were written. In fact, I had the impression while reading it that it was the peculiarities of the Dictionary that got Hitchings interested to begin with. The fact that he is obviously an expert in his subject and presents his proof, from the dictionary, other contemporary sources, and Johnson's extensive writing, with every deduction makes this story both believable and interesting. The only real fault in this book to me was the fact that Hitchings' writing is at times a little too dry and too fond of long words. Parts of the book drag and feel repetitive, though when I went back to figure out where the repetition was, I couldn't find it. It just felt that way while reading it, that I just wanted Hitchings to get to his next point already. Hitchings includes an immense amount of material with Johnson's life - history of dictionaries, circumstance of and commentary on life in the 18th century, and definition after definition - so the book felt very long. The best part of this book is the joy of entertaining definitions. My favorites are the confusing ones, like "to lie with" meaning "to converse in bed," and the list of words with vastly different meanings than they carry today, such as "urinator" meaning "a diver, one who searches underwater." Hitchings shows his own flashes of humor and personality in his work, just as Johnson did, by sharing his favorite anecdotes of Johnson and his own tart remarks on Johnson's writings, such as the above definition of "to lie with," where he points out that Johnson "could certainly have been more straightforward." For anyone who enjoys words and their various meanings, it is well worth a read.

A tale of a great Dictionary and its maker

This is an extremely well- written and pleasurable book. It tells the story of the making of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary. Each of its chapters is presented as a dictionary entry beginning with the word 'Adventurous' and concluding with 'Zootomy'. The entry by entry device does not disturb the narrative flow of the book. Hitchings tells the story chronologically and provides excellent background biographical material. He gives a picture of Johnson's early years which in some sense complements and completes the picture given by Boswell in the English language's most well-known biography. The picture Hitchings makes of Johnson is of an enormously vibrant figure , a man of tremendous energy who while condemning himself all the time for his 'sloth' was doing the work of many men at once. Hitchings in telling this story gives a very vivid picture of London life, especially London low- life in the late eighteenth century. His recounting of the friendship of Johnson with the poet Savage, about whom Johnson wrote his most interesting 'life as a poet' gives a sense of the tremendous disorder , dirt and yet attractiveness of that world. Johnson despite his lonely dedication to his scholarship was an enormously sociable person, and this book is peopled with dozens of remarkable characters among them the actor Garrick, and the Dictionary's as it were patron, Lord Chesterfield. The creating of the Dictionary was a tremendous labor. Johnson originally thought it would take three years but it took ten. The achievement was great, and as Hitchings makes clear it was not an etymological one alone. The 'Dictionary' is as Hitchings sees us a work of thought and of morals, and above all a work of Literature. Hitchings traces the various aspects of the works creation, and reception, its importance to English Literature and Language. This is an outstanding and highly recommended work, written with the intelligence and perception which a close association with Johnson's work would seem to almost necessarily bring.

A feast of a book

This book gets off to rather a slow start. The first 45 pages - about a sixth of the book - tell us of Johnson's life before he started work on the Dictionary. True, it links some of the events of Johnson's life to definitions he will give in his Dictionary; but such links are relatively few: the biographical element and the not unfamiliar social history of 18th century London predominate. That is pleasant enough, but one is impatient for the story of the Dictionary to begin. But when it does start, the book becomes really interesting and indeed fascinating. Initially Johnson hoped to `stabilise' the English language, to exclude `low terms' from it, and, through many of the elevating passages he chose to illustrate the use of a word, to promote education, religion or morality. Later, however, he felt the responsibility to record how English was actually being used in his time - that being the view which predominates among modern lexicographers. If he has to include words of which he really disapproves, he notes that they are `cant'. But he happily included some robust slang expressions of his time and certain vigorous words of abuse. He was suitably idiosyncratic in deciding which words are cant (bamboozle, nervous, the drink stout, flirtation), which are `low' (ignoramus, simpleton) and which are not. He also had a great dislike for words recently imported from France, though he includes them: bourgeois, unique, champagne, cutlet, trait, ruse, finesse. He would of course have known what a huge range of French words came into the English language with the Norman Conquest; but for him any word, of whatever origin, that had been used by the Elizabethans had a respectable pedigree. Johnson's methodology is interesting. He began with underlining a word in passages from his vast reading; that word would then be written on a slip of paper, together with the passage or passages in which it had figured; and the slips were then arranged in alphabetical order. Hitchings writes that `fundamentally Johnson was less interested in language than in its use by writers'. Johnson noted the etymological origin of words, but was more interested in how they had then developed therefrom through usage. He quoted lavishly from the Bible (4,617 times) and from some 500 authors, ranging from the famous to some who are today almost completely unknown - but refused to quote from writers such as Hobbes or Bolingbroke whom he thought too wicked. His quotations give one an insight into his own tastes and that of his contemporaries. As a result the Dictionary becomes what Hitchings calls `a giant commonplace book'. In chapters on Johnson's melancholia and introspection we are give quotations which are reflections on such experiences. Others were chosen to illustrate the frustrations of marriage - Johnson's own marriage having been a very difficult one. In the course of the book Hitchings quotes nearly 500 of the Dictionary's 42,733 definitions.

A 'must' for any who would understand how the work was created

Dr. Johnson is known for putting together the first comprehensive dictionary of the English language in the 18th century, creating a massive dictionary intended to be competed in 3 years, but which took over a decade of work. His dictionary was one of the most important creations of its times and it reached even into America with its importance - but relatively few accounts have followed Dr. Johnson's actual work. Defining The World: The Extraordinary Story Of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary also presents an A-Z dictionary-like arrangement to describe Johnson's effort, vision, mistakes, and frustrations in creating his famous work. It's a 'must' for any who would understand how the work was created, and its ongoing impact on the world.

His Dictionary a Guide to Its Author

Those who remember Samuel Johnson remember him through Boswell's vigorous and detailed biography, not through Johnson's literary works themselves. There are few experts steeped in eighteenth century literature who are closely familiar with Johnson's essays, poems, dramas, biographies of poets, and evaluations of the plays of Shakespeare. Most of us know, though, that a woman preaching is like a dog walking on its hind legs; one doesn't wonder that the task is done well, but rather that it is done at all. That's Johnson, speaking in Boswell's book, and countless other memorable episodes are there that are part of common culture. Johnson's greatest work is also seldom read today but is the foundation of a great deal of literary thought and philosophy. His _Dictionary of the English Language_ was published exactly 250 years ago. Henry Hitchings, in his book _Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr Johnson's Dictionary_ (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), has mined the dictionary in many ways to show that it is a treasure house: "More than any other English dictionary, it abounds with stories, arcane information, home truths, snippets of trivia, and lost myths." It also shows Johnson's interests, beliefs, prejudices, preachiness, and occasional ignorance in ways that Boswell could not. This is a delightful book, a lightly-written, loving tribute to Johnson and his great work, full of insights about the man and his times. Hitchings has included many biographical facts to lead up to Johnson as lexicographer, but his dictionary is always central. The dictionary is astonishingly the work of this one man, toiling in his London garret (now a museum) and always criticizing himself for his sloth. Johnson's choice of words and his definitions of them often show the turns of his mind. He would not let objectivity interfere with his moral mission, as in "Suicide: the horrid crime of destroying oneself." He is decorous about naughty words, leaving many out, and including others that required reading between the lines. "Bagnio" he defined as "a house for bathing, sweating, and otherwise cleansing the body," but everyone knew it was a brothel disguised as a bathhouse, and Johnson was having some arch fun with his definition. Similarly droll, but again with insistent morality, was "bawd: one that introduces men and women to each other, for the promotion of debauchery." Johnson originally thought his dictionary would make firm the language against changes, but he eventually realized that such a goal was illusory. He was a bad prognosticator of which new words would last and which would not; he thought "ignoramus" and "shabby" were poor constructions that would prove to be ephemeral, and recommended the increased use of "ultimity: the last stage" and "to warray: to make war." In any huge undertaking such as this, there must be errors, and though errors here are few, they are entertaining. A tarantula, Johnson tells us, is "an insect whose bite