tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526736757651414061.post3539327975141354637..comments2024-03-25T15:07:41.959+00:00Comments on Nigeness: The Doctor Gives a Heavy StrokeNigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314891387515045404noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526736757651414061.post-36786492970292211672017-11-23T13:30:17.450+00:002017-11-23T13:30:17.450+00:00Perhaps he didn't pick up well on the original...Perhaps he didn't pick up well on the original or new trends. 'Tom Jones,' 'Tristram Shandy' and 'The Beggar's Opera' were all innovative in their way. Don't mean to demean the great man.Guy Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02304053177188950094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526736757651414061.post-51716994156049022732017-11-23T10:44:49.670+00:002017-11-23T10:44:49.670+00:00I think in this, as in so many other matters of op...I think in this, as in so many other matters of opinion, Johnson was gloriously inconsistent. One of the pleasures of reading him is that there is clearly no 'system' at work, so you can rarely predict what his position will be - and of course his critical judgment is often just wrong (as, famously, on Tristram Shandy). His responses are always genuine, fully engaged and personal, not in thrall to any overarching theory (though sometimes too easily dismissive). On The Beggars Opera he was more relaxed than Boswell - and I don't think he was ever puritanical (he knew too well what it was to be a flawed human being), still less naive.Nigehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13314891387515045404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526736757651414061.post-28829019570608561382017-11-23T08:51:19.729+00:002017-11-23T08:51:19.729+00:00Johnson had a record of insisting on the moral rol...Johnson had a record of insisting on the moral role of art and condemning work on these grounds. 'Tom Jones' was written off on the same principle (Johnson feared for the nation's youth) I believe and Fielding, who was magistrate, was hardly a reprobate. Perhaps he operated at a time when the role of art was shifting to something new where the burden of making moral judgements was more with the audience than the author? Or perhaps he was a little puritanical and naive about sexual shenanigans? Any views Nige?Guy Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02304053177188950094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526736757651414061.post-89642390907155476332017-11-22T19:15:02.371+00:002017-11-22T19:15:02.371+00:00Ho ho - excellent!Ho ho - excellent!Nigehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13314891387515045404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526736757651414061.post-71042759691988880692017-11-22T16:47:04.854+00:002017-11-22T16:47:04.854+00:00Ha! My very naice girls' school was not conce...Ha! My very naice girls' school was not concerned about labefactation in 1961. We had great fun rehearsing and performing the work for the public - with all the bawdy insults cut out! Josquinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11031836207124768276noreply@blogger.com