ality, of life as it
has been lived, of actual achievements or shortcomings, of success or
failure; it is not imaginary and embellished, not what might be or might
have been, not reduced to prescribed or artificial forms, but it is the
unvarnished story of that which was delightful, disappointing, possible,
or impossible, in a life spent in this world.

In this sense it is peculiarly the literature of truth and authenticity.
Elements of imagination and speculation must enter into all other forms
of literature, and as purely creative forms they may rank superior to
biography; but in each case it will be found that their authenticity,
their right to our attention and credence, ultimately rests upon the
biographical element which is basic in them, that is, upon what they
have derived by observation and experience from a human life seriously
lived. Biography contains this element in its purity. For this reason it
is more authentic than other kinds of literature, and more relevant. The
thing that most concerns me, the individual, whether I will or no, is
the management of myself in this world. The fundamental and essential
conditions of life are the same in any age, however the adventitious
circumstances may change. The beginning and the end are the same, the
average length the same, the problems and the prize the same. How, then,
have others managed, both those who failed and those who succeeded,
or those, in far greatest number, who did both? Let me know their
ambitions, their odds, their handicaps, obstacles, weaknesses, and
struggles, how they finally fared, and what they had to say about it.
Let me know a great variety of such instances that I may mark their
disagreements, but more especially their agreement about it. How did
they play the game? How did they fight the fight that I am to fight, and
how in any case did they lose or win? To these questions biography gives
the direct answer. Such is its importance over other literature. For
such reasons, doubtless, Johnson 'loved' it most. For such reasons
the book which has been most cherished and revered for well-nigh two
thousand years is a biography.

Biography, then, is the chief text-book in the art of living, and
preeminent in its kind is the Life of Johnson. Here is the instance of a
man who was born into a life stripped of all ornament and artificiality.
His equipment in mind and stature was Olympian, but the odds against
him were proportionate to his powers. With