• NIRMLA RANI

Dr. Samuel Johnson's Preface to Shakespeare is a significant achievement in the realm of literary criticism in general as well as in the field of Shakespearian criticism. It is an important specimen of eighteenth century prose style too. Though he uses Latin diction and the sentences are often involved, Dr. Johnson's style as a whole is lucid. Dr. Johnson's Shakespearian criticism is free from the kind of personal prejudices that mars his criticism of Milton. The Preface, unarguably, is a brilliant exercise in descriptive criticism with some sound observations in the field of theoretical criticism and a long appendix on editorial method. Brilliant perception and acute logical reasoning is to be seen in Dr. Johnson's defiance of Shakespeare's mingling of the comic and the serious. Dr. Johnson shows a sound historical understanding. He appeals to the study of background as an antidote to the Neo-Classical rule of thumb. Indeed, in his support for artistic freedom and in his historical understanding, Dr. Johnson goes beyond his age and foreshadows the Romantic critical ideas. Dr. Johnson's Notes on the plays of Shakespeare - though not a part of the Preface - are remarkable because they stand at the beginning, of a whole new tradition of Shakespearian criticism, which after Dr. Johnson's death was to proliferate into a substantial literature of its own: the criticism of character. It is undeniable that the central praise of Shakespeare, as the master of truth and universality has been well set out by Dr. Johnson

Neo- classical, theoretical, prejudices, substantial, universality

"PREFACE TO SHAKESPEARE: DR. JOHNSON AS AN EDITOR OF SHAKESPEARE’S WORKS", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 3, page no.383-386, March-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1903D62.pdf

"PREFACE TO SHAKESPEARE: DR. JOHNSON AS AN EDITOR OF SHAKESPEARE’S WORKS", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 3, page no. pp383-386, March-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1903D62.pdf