Dr. Johnson and Mr. Savage

In this outstanding work of biographical detection, Richard Holmes unravels the puzzle of Dr. Samuel Johnson's two-year friendship with the notorious poet Richard Savage after Johnson's arrival in London in 1737.

By closely reading Johnson's 'Life of Savage' and synthesizing contradictory historical sources, Holmes reveals a more complex portrait of both men than Johnson's own account suggests—uncovering Johnson as a lonely literary aspirant and political radical, and Savage as a more cunning and successful figure than Johnson acknowledged.

The book examines how Johnson's moral convictions shaped his biographer's account of his flawed but fascinating friend.