Goldsmith
Published on 3. November 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
174 pages
978-1-108-03470-8 (ISBN)
Description
Written by Scottish novelist William Black (1841-98), this biography of the Irish-born poet, dramatist and novelist Oliver Goldsmith (c.1728-74) was published in 1878 as the sixth book in the first series of English Men of Letters. Goldsmith is best known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) and the play She Stoops to Conquer (1771), as well as his close association with Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, and William Hogarth. The biography is a colourful one: as Black observes, Goldsmith, who was trained as a physician but whose whole career was in literature, possessed a 'happy knack of enjoying the present hour', and his pursuit of pleasure frequently left him in debt. Black himself was one of the most prolific and popular writers of his day; a collected edition of his works published 1892-4 ran to twenty-six volumes.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 10 mm
Weight
228 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-108-03470-8 (9781108034708)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
William Black was a novelist born in Glasgow, Scotland. During his lifetime, Black's works were extremely popular and compared favorably to those of Anthony Trollope. However, his renown and popularity did not last long into the twentieth century. William was born to James Black and his second wife, Caroline Conning. He was educated as a landscape painter, which affected his literary career. As a writer, he was recognized for his rich, atmospheric depictions of landscapes and seascapes in works like White Wings: A Yachting Romance (1880). He moved to London at the age of 23, after gaining some journalism experience in Glasgow. He began working for the Morning Star, then the Daily News, where he rose to the position of assistant editor. He wrote a weekly serial for The Graphic. During the Austria-Prussian War, he worked as a war correspondent. Black's debut novel, James Merle, was published in 1864 and had little popularity. Black then denied it and allegedly purchased copies to destroy them.
Content
1. Introductory; 2. School and college; 3. Idleness, and foreign travel; 4. Early struggles - hack-writing; 5. Beginning of authorship - The Bee; 6. Personal traits; 7. The Citizen of the World - Beau Nash; 8. The arrest; 9. The Traveller; 10. Miscellaneous writing; 11. The Vicar of Wakefield; 12. The Good-natured Man; 13. Goldsmith in society; 14. The Deserted Village; 15. Occasional writing; 16. She Stoops to Conquer; 17. Increasing difficulties - the end.