1. S. M. Joshi College Hadapsar Pune – 28
Rayat Shikshan Sanstha’s
S. M. Joshi College Hadapsar
Pune – 28
M. A. 1st Year English
Paper Name: 1.4 Literary Criticism and Theory
Topic: Samuel Johnson: The Rambler, No. 4( On Fiction)
Mr. Suresh Bhosale

2. Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 [OS 7 September] – 13 December 1784),

3. He often referred to as Dr
He often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer.

4. The Rambler, a twopenny sheet issued twice weekly in London by the publisher John Payne between and 1752, each issue containing a single anonymous essay; 208 such periodical essays appeared, all but four written by Samuel Johnson. Johnson’s intention in this project was that of a moralist aware of his duty to make the world better. This sense of responsibility determined the style of his Rambler essays, a majority of which deal with the disappointments inherent in life and with the setbacks to ambition.

5. Many of the titles reflect this: “Happiness not Local”; “The Frequent Contemplation of Death Necessary to Moderate the Passions”; “The Luxury of Vain Imagination.” The Rambler, in short, is of fundamental importance in any estimate of Johnson’s approach to literature itself: though shot through with mournful humour, it was written to instruct and chasten. For the most part Johnson was a detached and generalizing commentator, the essays bearing little relation to current events or current literature, even though they contain much acute literary criticism. They do, however, reflect the social and literary conditions of the time.

6. Johnson’s immediate incentive in contributing The Rambler essays was to keep the wolf from the door (“No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money”). He was in his 40s, at work on his Dictionary, and had little in the way of regular income. He was paid two guineas for each paper. The Rambler did not sell well as a periodical, however, though it was an immense success after being reissued, with the essays revised, in volume form in 1753.

7. It also inspired other periodicals, notably John Hawkesworth’s The Adventurer (1752–54), Edward Moore’s lively The World (1753–56), George Colman’s and Bonnell Thornton’s The Connoisseur (1754–56), and Henry Mackenzie’s Scottish periodical, The Mirror (1779–80).

8. The works of fiction, with which the present generation seems more particularly delighted, are such as exhibit life in its true state, diversified only by accidents that daily happen in the world, and influenced by passions and qualities which are really to be found in conversing with mankind. 

9. This kind of writing may be termed not improperly the comedy of romance, and is to be conducted nearly by the rules of comic poetry. Its province is to bring about natural events by easy means, and to keep up curiosity without the help of wonder: it is therefore precluded from the machines and expedients of the heroic romance, and can neither employ giants to snatch away a lady from the nuptial rites, nor knights to bring her back from captivity; it can neither bewilder its personages in deserts, nor lodge them in imaginary castles. 

10. Bibliography The Rambler
3 references found in Britannica articles Assorted References
essays by Johnson
In English literature: Johnson’s poetry and prose
In Samuel Johnson: From The Rambler to The Adventurer