'That Power of Giving Pleasure'

Johnson on Novelty in the Rambler

Abstract

The paper examines Dr. Johnson's concept of novelty as a means to aesthetic pleasure. Undertaking the close reading of Rambler 121, an early and decisive paper on literary imitation, I argue that the most important critical principle by which Johnson judges ancient and modern imitations is novelty. In this essay, the Virgilian and the Spenserian imitations illustrate the pressure and the dangers of following models. I also consider the critical vocabulary that provides the context of this concept and, drawing on Wimsatt's method, attempt to reveal the intimate connection between a Dictionary entry and a Rambler word reflecting upon the possible sources of Johnson's idea of novelty.