A Clubbable Man: Essays on Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture in Honor of Greg Clingham

Samuel Johnson famously referred to his future biographer, the unsociable magistrate Sir John Hawkins, as "a most unclubbable man." Conversely, this celebratory volume gathers distinguished eighteenth-century studies scholars to honor the achievements, professional generosity, and sociability of Greg Clingham, taking as its theme textual and social group formations. Here, Philip Smallwood examines the "mirrored minds" of Johnson and Shakespeare, while David Hopkins parses intersections of the general and particular in three key eighteenth-century figures. Aaron Hanlon draws parallels between instances of physical rambling and rhetorical strategies in Johnson's Rambler, while Cedric D. Reverand dissects the intertextual strands uniting Dryden and Pope. Contributors take up other topics significant to the field, including post-feminism, travel, and seismology. Whether discussing cultural exchange or textual reciprocities, each piece extends the theme, building on the trope of relationship to organize and express its findings. Rounding out this collection are tributes from Clingham's former students and colleagues, including original poetry.
 

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Anthony W. Lee
I. Essays on Samuel Johnson and Boswell
1. Mirrored Minds—Johnson and Shakespeare
Philip Smallwood
2. The General and the Particular: Pope, Johnson, and Reynolds
David Hopkins
3. "The Caliban of Literature": Spenser, Shakespeare, and Johnson's Intertextual Scholarship
Anthony W. Lee
4. In Silence and Darkness: Johnson's Verdicts on Artistic Failure
Adam Rounce
5. Smollett's Ramblers and the Law of the Land
Aaron Hanlon
6. The Social Life of Thomas Cumming, or "Clubbing" with Johnson's friend, the Fighting Quaker
Robert G. Walker
7. Not "Just a Macheath": Young Boswell and Old Cibber in Boswell's London Journal 1762–1763
Gordon Turnbull
II. Essays on Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture
8. English Historiography and the Development of Secular Autobiography: The Memoir
Martine Brownley
9. What Else Did Pope Borrow from Dryden?
Cedric D. Reverand
10. Poetic Performances: Pope's "An Essay on Man" and "Swift's Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift"
John Richetti
11. Swift Shrinks the Duke of Marlborough: Public Delegitimization Though Scale
Clement Hawes
12. Trans-Plant Perspectives: Western Gardens, Eastern Views
Bärbel Czennia
13. Publishers Can Cause Earthquakes: The Seismic English Enlightenment and Enigmatic Explanations
Kevin L. Cope
III. Personal Reminiscences
1. Greg Clingham as Teacher and Mentor
Dominic Jermey
Elaine Wood
Caroline Fassett
Joseph McNicholas
Margaret Williams
Erin Labbie
Patrick Henry
Adam Walker
Kang Tchou
2. Greg Clingham and Bucknell University Press
Gary Sojka
Nina Forsberg
Daniel Little
James Rice
John Rickard
3. Commemoratory Poems
"It is rowing without a port."
Notes by Lady Anne Barnard while in South Africa
Antjie Krog
Frances Towne
Kieron Winn
An Ode: Alexander Pope Reciprocally Writes an Encomium for Samuel Johnson, Aided by Greg Clingham
Emily Grosholz
Mother Johnson
Harry Thomas
Coda
Kate Parker
Greg Clingham's Publications
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
About the Contributors
Index

About the Author :
ANTHONY W. LEE is an expert on Samuel Johnson and his circle, mentoring, and intertextuality. He has published more than forty essays on Johnson and eighteenth-century literature and culture, and six books, most recently New Essays on Samuel Johnson: Revaluation, Community and Solitude: New Essays on Johnson's Circle (Bucknell University Press), and "Modernity Johnson": Samuel Johnson Among the Modernists. He has taught at a number of colleges and universities, including the University of Arkansas, Kentucky Wesleyan College, the University of the District of Columbia, and the University of Maryland University College, where he also served as director of the English and humanities program. He is currently a visiting lecturer at Arkansas Tech University and lives in Dardanelle, Arkansas.

Review :
"The publication of A Clubbable Man: Essays on Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture in Honor of Greg Clingham provides an occasion to identify a few of the elements of a successful Festschrift and to explain why this particular tribute to a true hero of our field is one of the very best of its kind."— The Eighteenth-Century Intelligencer
"Editor, author, de facto publisher, and dedicated teacher, Greg Clingham is remarkable among eighteenth-century scholars for his versatility and productivity. A Clubbable Man brings together a star-studded cast of Clingham's colleagues, students, and friends to celebrate a career of consequence in a suitably diverse, elegantly written, and original collection of essays."— Robert DeMaria, editor of The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson
"This rich collection of work by leading scholars of Samuel Johnson and adjacent eighteenth-century conversations broadens and deepens our own conversations significantly. The vital interplay of social communication and individual achievement emerges clearly throughout this well-conceived, capacious, and handsome volume."— John Sitter, author of The Cambridge Introduction to Eighteenth-Century Poetry