Download or read book Samuel Johnson & the Journey Into Words written by Lynda Mugglestone and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Lynda Mugglestone looks at the range of Johnson's writings on, and the complexity of his thinking about, language and lexicography. She shows how these reveal him probing problems not just of meaning and use but what he considered the related issues of control, obedience, and justice, as well as the difficulties of power when exerted over the 'sea of words'. She examines his attitudes to language change, loan words, spelling, history, and authority, describing, too, the evolution of his ideas about the nature, purpose, and methods of lexicography, and shows how these reflect his own and others' thinking about politics, culture, and society.