James Boswell (1740-1795), biographer of Samuel Johnson and lifelong diarist, provided one of the most detailed descriptions of eighteenth-century London life in his <i>London Journal: 1762-1763</i>. In it, Boswell chronicled his self-conscious attempts to refashion himself from the uncultivated Scottish youth that he worried he was into the refined London gentleman he desperately wanted to become. Moving to London at a time when Post-Union Britain was supposedly ushering in a new era of Britishness, Boswells musings offer a different perspective, one in which nationalism specifically, English and Scottish nationalism played an important role in Boswells quest to construct his idealized genteel identity. Examinations of Boswells <i>Journal</i> reveal important insight into his views on national identity, masculinity, and the city of London itself, as well as how all of these aspects relate to each other in shaping Boswells quest to shape his character.

James Boswell (1740-1795), biographer of Samuel Johnson and lifelong diarist, provided one of the most detailed descriptions of eighteenth-century London life in his <i>London Journal: 1762-1763</i>. In it, Boswell chronicled his self-conscious attempts to refashion himself from the uncultivated Scottish youth that he worried he was into the refined London gentleman he desperately wanted to become. Moving to London at a time when Post-Union Britain was supposedly ushering in a new era of Britishness, Boswells musings offer a different perspective, one in which nationalism specifically, English and Scottish nationalism played an important role in Boswells quest to construct his idealized genteel identity. Examinations of Boswells <i>Journal</i> reveal important insight into his views on national identity, masculinity, and the city of London itself, as well as how all of these aspects relate to each other in shaping Boswells quest to shape his character.

It is the purpose of the author to outline briefly some of the intellectual ideas relating to the nature of man, his conception of religion, his social manners and customs, and to reveal, through the "Hypochondriack" essays, that James Boswell was a peculiarly eighteenth-century figure in certain aspects of his moral philosophy.

The master’s thesis is an attempt of reconstruction of the intellectual biography of famous English writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson in the context of British history of the XVIII century. The author investigate a life path of the intellectual through a prism of such institute of sociability as family, church, school, institute and English club, based on the complex of Johnson’s writings and works of his contemporaries. The author emphasizes a problem of the formation of Johnson as professional writer, because the history of his literary successes was closely linked with main sociocultural processes, occurring in Britain of the XVIII century. Moreover in thesis author analyze a Johnson’s political views, using lexicographer’s political pamphlets and papers. / Магистерская диссертация представляет собой попытку реконструкции интеллектуальной биографии известного английского литератора и лексикографа Сэмюэла Джонсона в контексте британской истории XVIII века. Опираясь на комплекс сочинений С. Джонсона и его современников, автор исследует жизненный путь интеллектуала сквозь призму таких институтов социабельности как семья, церковь, школа, университет и английский клуб. Особое внимание автор уделяет проблеме становления Джонсона как профессионального писателя, поскольку история его литературных успехов была неразрывно связана с основными социокультурными процессами, происходившими в Британии XVIII века. Кроме того, в диссертации автор анализирует политические воззрения литератора, используя политические памфлеты и статьи С. Джонсона.