SOURCE: "Self-Restraint and Self-Display in the Authorial Comments in the Life of Jonson," in New Light on Boswell: Critical and Historical Essays on the Occasion of the Bicentenary of "The Life of Jonson," edited by Greg Clingham, pp. 162-73. Cambridge University Press, 1991.

In the following essay, Danziger explores the authorial comments of Boswell in the Life of Johnson. In an effort to counteract their typically negative critical reception, Danziger argues that "these comments have their own interest in revealing an older, sadder Boswell trying to come to terms with personal loss, professional disappointment, and his feelings as a displaced Scotsman."

Readers of the Life of Johnson are immediately aware of Boswell's presence not only as a participant in scenes and conversations with Johnson but also as a later self engaged in the process of writing and rethinking his material. His authorial comments have been deplored as "annoying" and...