My Sam Johnson: Recent Episodes
Wayne Jones
Wayne talks about the bio he's writing about 18th-century English writer Samuel Johnson, "My Sam Johnson: A Biography for General Readers," to be published in 2022. More info at MySamJohnson.com
This is the revived podcast (and blog), which have been hiatus while I actually finished writing the biography of Sam. That's now done, and in this episode I provide an update on progress, as well as two anecdotes from Sam's life: his wife's reaction to his Rambler essays, and Sam's reaction to two of his friends haranguing him about doing more writing.
Wayne talks about some of Sam's friendships, and also announces that this will be the last podcast episode (and blog posting) of My Sam Johnson. If you've been a follower of the podcast, and you'd like a free signed copy of the book when it's published in 2022, listen in for Wayne's email and text number (613-884-8953), so that he can contact you.
Wayne discusses God and Sam's prayers to that God, as well as the fact that in the prayers that Sam composed, using time well and getting things done are major focuses. Bonus: there's also some talk about sex and sensuality.
Wayne talks about the process of writing a biography, where often you have to gather all the information you can find about the person, but then cannot use all that information because it wouldn't make for a readable biography.
Wayne talks about Sam's signature on letters, and then goes on to discuss letter-writing in the 18th and 21st centuries.
Wayne talks mostly about three road trips to the US he's taken with his friend Oscar, as well as a bit about plans for the book.
Wayne talks about the various portraits of Sam Johnson, but the discussion somehow also morphs into selfies of avocado toast and Kim Kardashian's ass, but Wayne recovers and ends up talking about the demise of literary writing. (Is that a recovery?) He ends by talking about the biography of Sam that he is writing and the website that will complement it.
Wayne talks about freedom of expression at universities, pivoting from the recent resignation of assistant professor of philosophy Peter Boghossian from Portland State University. Also: the study of Sam in English departments.
Wayne talks about Sam's attitude toward writing, and then goes on to discuss why any writer writes and what are the most important things in writing generally.
Wake discusses wokeness and Sam Johnson, with some examples from Sam's writing life. There's also a digression on Wayne's experience on Twitter.
Wayne discusses happiness and his chat with Gretchen Rubin, author of the New York Times bestselling book, Happier at Home.
Wayne talks about style and tone and how they are different in the three periodicals that Sam wrote: the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler. He also calls on some modern examples of literature, writing, and film to bolster the point about the importance of style, notably "On Good People and Bad People" by Matt Taibbi; Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov; Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger; the book and film versions of American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis; and the film Calm Like a Bomb, directed by Mauro Russo Rouge.
Wayne talks about the Dictionary of the English Language that Sam compiled, and which was published in 1755.
Wayne discusses Rambler essay no. 68 (Tuesday, November 10, 1750), and makes comments on it, especially as it relates to two incidents that happened to him during the week.
Wayne describes and comments on the last three weeks of Sam's life, prompted by the account kept by one of Sam's friends, John Hoole.
Wayne talks about Sam's health through his life from birth to death, but mostly focuses on his (Wayne's) methods for researching, organizing, and writing the biography, My Sam Johnson, anticipated to be published in 2022.
Wayne talked to his nephew Sam about current technology, 18th-century technology, and the tech things that are of interest to at least one 11-year-old boy.
Lacking success in finding teaching or writing jobs in Lichfield, Sam moves to London to pursue a literary career.
Wayne discusses the reasons he is interested in Sam Johnson as a subject for biography.
Wayne relates some funny anecdotes from the life and marriage of Tetty and Sam, and makes some final comments about empathy and biography.
Wayne reads from the prayers that Sam Johnson wrote a few weeks after the death of his wife in 1752.
Wayne talks about Sam's eating practices and how they relate to his character, as well as how he ended up singeing his wigs so often.
Wayne discusses Sam Johnson's writing style and his plans to try to encourage more reading of Johnson in the biography that he's writing.
Examples of a couple of Sam's prayers and how they illustrate his character and mindset.
Sam gets married in 1735 to a widow named Elizabeth ("Tetty") Jervis, and for a year or so they try to get him set up as a teacher.
Wayne consults Sam Johnson's dictionary, published in 1755, to see if it contains a definition or a use of the phrase "in terms of" as we use it today – and ends with a brief summary of the state of digitization of this dictionary.
Sam defends himself against a fraud poet who claimed that he (the poet) had translated the poems of a 3rd-century poet named Ossian. Sam said they were fakes – and they did turn out to be so.