in every man's life, however splendid or modest, there are episodes that mark one's journey as a reader or as a person. Reading Samuel Johnson's essays is both a personal and a reader milestone.

the year

When this year began, I set my sights high in my reading list. A natural mistake that Johnson describes several times. One charts and hopes and designs without contemplating the ruggedness of the terrain or the vicissitudes of the weather. I think it is called "the planning fallacy" in educated circles.

"The resolution of the combat is seldom equal to the vehemence of the charge."
Johnson: The Rambler #43 (August 14, 1750)

I started with The Rambler and, to this date, have not touched any other book. Even though I suspected the impossibility of the list, I thought I would at least cover half the ground.

But perhaps there was a cosmic reason for it (see appendix).

impressions of Johnson

Much can be and has been written about Johnson. With me stays his unrelenting exposition of the true north of a life well lived. The imperative of choosing virtue over vanity, dignity over money, labor over vice, the persistent over the transient; the responsibility to understand and respect our duties and our labor; and the necessity to break through the confines of pure reflection and act in the real world.

All this while acknowledging that every person, starting with himself, has faults and cannot expect perfection in all choices and unstoppable stamina in all projects.

There is no appetite to deliver lectures or catechism, just Dr. Johnson letting his impeccable prose give "ardour to virtue, and confidence to truth."

The Rambler digs the mind and touches the heart, and moves us to (attempt to) be just in our activities and affairs. Give to each its fair measure. Not more. And not less.

I have never complied with temporary curiosity, nor enabled my readers to discuss the topic of the day; I have rarely exemplified my assertions by living characters; in my papers, no man could look for censures of his enemies, or praises of himself; and they only were expected to peruse them, whose passions left them leisure for abstracted truth, and whom virtue could please by its naked dignity.
Johnson, The Rambler #208 (March 14, 1752)

on the reader's fortitude

It is best to find seclusion before venturing in the world of Johnson. The essays are densely packed with wisdom, methodical disquisition, rigorous reasoning and a style that, though clear and concise, is almost 300 years old.

In other words, take your time to assimilate each paragraph. Re-read.

Do not place yourself where distraction can easily snatch you.

must-have works and editions of Johnson

From stronger minds and spirits, I have gathered the following categories or levels when it comes to reading Johnson.

Level 1: for the uninitiated

  • "The Rambler" (3 volumes), Yale University Press
  • "The Idler" and "The Adventurer", Yale University Press
  • Samuel Johnson: A Biography, by Peter Martin

Level 2: for the devout

  • Life of Samuel Johnson, by James Boswell, Everyman's Library
  • The Lives of the Poets, Yale University Press

Level 3: for the consecrated (or completionist)

  • Visit The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson (here)

For my part, I will take a break and venture into the world of Robert Aickman, before coming back to pick up The Idler and The Adventurer, and I hope to gather the strength to someday read the best biography of all time.

appendix: a cosmic reason, the tenth day of the tenth month

On October 10, 2024, at 5:00pm on the dot, I finished reading essay No. 208 of The Rambler.

To the numerologist and the astrologer, it was destined to be. They all solve for the number 10. The digits of the 208 essays: 2 + 0 + 8 = 10. The tenth day of the tenth month. The digits of the date 2024-10-10: 2 + 0 + 2 + 4 + 1 + 0 + 1 + 0 = 10.