The Struggle of the Soul (Personality Narration in Boswell's The Life of Johnson)

Author: Sun Yongbin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: This book focuses on the art of conflict in Boswell's Life of Johnson. Starting from the conflicts between Johnson and his environment, Johnson and others, and Johnson's inner conflicts, it analyzes how Boswell extensively employs the technique of biographical conflict to weave seemingly fragmented details, disorganized dialogues, and private letters with friends into an inseparable whole, vividly presenting Johnson's personality, the crises contained in the world he inhabited, and exploring the social, historical, and cultural backgrounds that gave rise to these conflicts, highlighting the social nature of conflict. The book is divided into four parts. The first part introduces the criticism and interpretation of Boswell and his Life of Johnson over the past two hundred years, pointing out that demonstrating the subject's personality and development through conflict reflects the value of biographical literature. The second part primarily explores the conflict between Johnson and his environment. The environment can either provide possibilities for the subject's personality to flourish or become a constraint that suppresses it. Boswell highlights Johnson's unrestrained arrogance, independent personality, and sincere nature through descriptions of Johnson's conflicts during his university years with his impoverished family background, as a writer with his patronage system, and as a literary leader with the values of high society. At the same time, it also points out Johnson's willingness to compromise with his environment. The third part examines the conflicts between Johnson and Garrick, Sheridan, Macpherson, Wilkes, and Boswell himself, analyzing the causes of these conflicts and their development and changes, showcasing Boswell's biographical writing style. Johnson's conflicts with others are the most dramatic part of The Life of Johnson. Boswell's narration is concise, tight, full of suspense, engaging, and dramatic, while also giving these conflicts cultural symbolic significance. Johnson's conflicts with actors stem from prejudice on one hand and reflect his clear awareness of the world on the other. The fourth part reveals Boswell's deep exploration of Johnson's inner conflicts. Johnson's greatest fear was the fear of losing his sanity, which was directly related to his depression. His philosophical reflections and religious concerns often led to his fear of death and hell. Johnson also had a genuine fear, which was the "uncertainty of the existing state." Boswell's successful use of the art of conflict in The Life of Johnson provided a model for later biographers in the artistic treatment of material. From the perspective of the art of conflict, it not only gives biographical works a clear dramatic quality but also helps vividly portray the subject's personality. For modern biographers, the art of conflict has particularly important practical significance.