Samuel Johnson's Parliamentary Reporting

Debates in the Senate of Lilliput

Benjamin Beard Hoover

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9780520349452
• eBook ISBN: 9780520349469
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

Samuel Johnson’s Parliamentary Reporting: Debates in the Senate of Lilliput by Benjamin Beard Hoover reexamines a long-neglected body of Johnson’s early prose and restores it to a central place in his literary development. Originally written as magazine reconstructions of parliamentary debates for *The Gentleman’s Magazine*, these texts have often been dismissed as mere journalism or derivative exercises. Hoover challenges this assumption, arguing that the *Debates in the Senate of Lilliput* represent Johnson’s first sustained effort at large-scale prose composition and thus provide essential insight into his evolving style, rhetorical strategies, and political imagination. By situating Johnson within the broader eighteenth-century tradition of parliamentary reporting and exploring the peculiar circumstances under which the *Debates* were composed and published, Hoover reveals their importance both as historical documents and as works of literary art.

The study unfolds in four major parts. Hoover first establishes the historical background of parliamentary reporting and Johnson’s unique contribution to the genre, then traces the publication history of the *Debates* from their first appearance through subsequent reprintings and critical receptions. A third section undertakes detailed comparisons between Johnson’s reconstructions and parallel reports in the *London Magazine* and other surviving records, exposing the creative liberties he took and the distinctive Johnsonian qualities that emerged. Finally, Hoover reads the *Debates* as literature, analyzing them as dramatic exchanges and as early examples of Johnson’s prose style. Far from being mere “apprentice work,” Hoover contends, the *Debates* illuminate Johnson’s early mastery of argument, irony, and cadence, and demand recognition as a formative achievement. This book repositions the *Debates* from poor relations to significant works within Johnson’s canon, offering scholars and readers alike a fuller understanding of his intellectual and literary trajectory.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1953.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• CHAPTER I HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDS: SAMUEL JOHNSON AND PARLIAMENTARY REPORTING IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
• CHAPTER II THE DEBATES DURING TWO CENTURIES: THE HISTORY OF THE DOCUMENT
• CHAPTER III THE DEBATES AS FACT: A COMPARISON WITH THE COLLATERAL EVIDENCE
• CHAPTER IV THE DEBATES AS ART: THEIR PLACE IN THE LITERARY CAREER OF SAMUEL JOHNSON
• NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• APPENDIX 1
• APPENDIX 2
• INDEX