Conscious of Her Own Power: Hester Piozzi's Character Creation in Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson LL.D., During the Last Twenty Years of His Life

This project highlights aspects of Hester Piozzi’s approach to biography in Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson LL. D. During the Last Twenty Years of His Life in order to analyze her use of accumulated cultural and social capital. I highlight similarities between Anecdotes and Samuel Johnson’s model for biography given in Rambler #60 and show how Piozzi adheres to his advice as she characterizes Johnson as a pious genius, intolerantly opinionated, and self-indulgent, yet unwilling to accept those qualities in others. I analyze how her editorial choices characterize her as a reliable source of information and a blameless victim of Johnson’s need for attention. This study proves Anecdotes and the corresponding entries in Thraliana are important because her deliberate revisioning of her history speaks to her ability to manipulate social expectations in order to revive her literary career and actively contribute to eighteenth-century British economy, culture, and society.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year dc:date.available

2013

Author dc:creator

• Weakley, Anne

Contributors dc:contributor

• Rivka Swenson

• Hester Piozzi
• Samuel Johnson
• authorial self-fashioning
• biography
• autobiography
• Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson
• LL.D. During the Last Twenty Years of His Life
• social capital
• cultural capital
• Arts and Humanities
• English Language and Literature

Statement dc:rights

• © The Author

Identifier

https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/477

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarscompass.vcu.edu:etd-1476