...said as to be commonly believed that the true characters of men may be found in their letters, and that he who writes to his friend lays his heart open before him. But the truth is that such were simple friendships of the Golden Age, and are now the friendships only of children.19 Johnson emphatically...

...said as to be commonly believed that the true characters of men may be found in their letters, and that he who writes to his friend lays his heart open...the Golden Age, and are now the friendships only of children.37 " Rambler, V, 47 (No. 152, 31 August 1751). 36 To Mrs Thrale, 27 October 1777, Chapman,...

...argument is as good as specimens like these are convincing. Freud's Legacy: 'Darkness Is not News' Very few can boast of hearts which they dare lay open...exposed they do not shun a distinct and continued view. (Samuel Johnson, Life of Pope) There are few defences of Freud which do not invoke some variant of...

...about us, because they plumb deeper, than conversation does. Dr. Johnson is less easily convinced: "Very few can boast of hearts which they dare lay open to themselves . . . and, certainly, what we hide from ourselves we do not show to our friends. There is, indeed, no transaction...

...said as to be commonly believed that the true characters of men may be found in their letters, and that he who writes to his friend lays his heart open...Age, and are now the friendships only of children" (para. 273). Thus the rhetorical formalities of the genre (a "calm and deliberate performance in the...

...said as to be commonly believed, that the true characters of men may be found in their letters, and that he who writes to his friend lays his heart open...children. Very few can boast of hearts which they dare to lay open to themselves, and of which, by whatever accident exposed, they do not shun a distinct...

..."Letters were to be written in the heart's blood, they practically were to be wept" (49). friendship, "such were the simple friendships of the Golden Age,...which they dare lay open to themselves . . . and, certainly, what we hide from ourselves we do not shew to our friends. There is, indeed, no transaction...

...shepherds memorialized on Achilles's shield exemplify this — reminding us of Johnson's comparison: "Such were the simple friendships of the Golden Age, and are now the friendships of children." Above all, he identifies the order and simplicity of the natural world as primary objects...

...Anstrengung, Literarizität.24 Die Vorstellung einer authentischen epistolaren Selbstpräsentation, "that he who writes to his friend lays his heart open before him," befindet Johnson schlicht als naiv: "[SJuch were simple friendships of the Golden Age," denn "certainly...