Biographers' Day (16/05)

To paraphrase famous words, we can say: if someone writes biographies, it means someone reads them. And today is exactly the day when you should re-read the biography of your favorite writer, artist or get acquainted with the biography of a person you have been interested in for a long time. Or maybe there will be time to remember the details of your own life and start compiling an autobiography.

Why today? Because May 16 is Biographers Day. Today, knowledgeable and inquisitive people celebrate the anniversary of Samuel Johnson's first meeting (1709-1784) with his biographer James Boswell (1740-1795). The men met in one of the bookstores in London in 1763, and the result of the meeting and the established relationship between them was the two-volume « Life of Samuel Johnson » (The Life of Samuel Johnson) published in 1791.

As you know, the Englishman Samuel Johnson, or Dr. Johnson, as he was more often called, was an outstanding critic, lexicographer and poet of the second half of the 18th century. His most famous work was the «Dictionary of the English Language, on which Johnson worked for 9 years.

Scotsman James Boswell, a writer and memoirist, had the honor of recording Johnson's conversations, incredibly witty remarks and criticisms over the years after meeting Johnson. «The life of Samuel Johnson», according to many literary critics, has become the greatest biography in English, popular and read to this day.

The word biography itself comes from two ancient Greek words — βίος — life + γράφω — I write. In other words, a biography is a biography of a person created by another person or several people. In most cases, a biography becomes the very first source of information we want to receive about a person.

It was thanks to the scrupulous and tireless work of biographers that even the most seemingly insignificant information about the lives of great people of a particular era, about the morals and customs of this era has survived to this day.

One of the first biographers can be called the ancient Greek philosopher Plutarch. The name of the first publisher and biographer A.S. is well known. Pushkin — P.V. Annenkova, name of biographer L.N. Tolstoy — P.I. Biryukova. Unfortunately, the names of many outstanding biographers have been forgotten, but the biographies they have left will always be a valuable literary heritage of any country and inexhaustible material for research.

Therefore, today's holiday — is another reason to celebrate the merits of those who often remain in the shadows.



• Infographics — poster «Biographers' Day»

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