Genius Fan

In my two most recent posts (On the Hunt… and A Plaque for Burns…) I made the point that it’s fun and interesting to get out of the house and use a book as a guide to track down a place that’s relevant to your favourite historical period or person. I write about that and illustrate the experience in this Genius Fan blog. But it’s nothing new. When I began this project I decided my goals were, 1. To reach people who may nor may not know about James Boswell and his world and get them interested…in history and books (see my first post A Fan of Genius and my About Genius Fan page). And a second goal, 2. Encourage or persuade people to be proud of our history and the people who went before us.

I was prompted to write this little post because of the opening statements in CE Vulliamy’s 1946 book Ursa Major: “I do not claim to present in this book any material which is unknown to the Johnsonian scholar.” That applies to me, this blog and James Boswell. And then Vulliamy continues: “What I may perhaps venture to claim is a new assembly and allocation of material, from which we may consider the possibility of new deductions and the advantages of a synthetic view.” This could be added to my list of goals as No.3. Let’s see if I’m able to present a new assembly or allocation of materials and if there are any new deductions or advantages in what I’m doing.

Will a scholar of the Eighteenth century or of James Boswell learn anything from my little posts and sketches? [Chuckles] My stuff is basic…it might remind them of something they’ve forgotten.

Notes
Ursa Major: A Study of Dr. Johnson, CE Vulliamy (1946)