Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell
E273949
Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell is a landmark 18th-century biography renowned for its vivid, detailed portrayal of the English writer Samuel Johnson and for helping to define the modern genre of biography.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell canonical | 1 |
| The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2525273 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell Context triple: [Samuel Johnson, describedBySource, Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell]
-
A.
Johnson’s Life of London
Johnson’s Life of London is a popular history book by Boris Johnson that profiles influential figures and episodes that shaped the city of London.
-
B.
Autobiography of Francis Place
Autobiography of Francis Place is the personal memoir of the 19th-century English radical reformer and political activist Francis Place, offering a detailed account of his life, ideas, and involvement in social and political movements.
-
C.
The Diary of Samuel Pepys
The Diary of Samuel Pepys is a famous 17th-century personal journal that offers an intimate, day-by-day account of London life, politics, and major events such as the Great Plague and the Great Fire.
-
D.
Biographia Literaria
Biographia Literaria is Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s seminal autobiographical and critical work that blends literary theory, philosophy, and personal reflection, particularly on the nature of poetry and imagination.
-
E.
Studies of a Biographer
Studies of a Biographer is a collection of critical and biographical essays by Victorian man of letters Leslie Stephen, reflecting on the art and practice of biography.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell Target entity description: Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell is a landmark 18th-century biography renowned for its vivid, detailed portrayal of the English writer Samuel Johnson and for helping to define the modern genre of biography.
-
A.
Johnson’s Life of London
Johnson’s Life of London is a popular history book by Boris Johnson that profiles influential figures and episodes that shaped the city of London.
-
B.
Autobiography of Francis Place
Autobiography of Francis Place is the personal memoir of the 19th-century English radical reformer and political activist Francis Place, offering a detailed account of his life, ideas, and involvement in social and political movements.
-
C.
The Diary of Samuel Pepys
The Diary of Samuel Pepys is a famous 17th-century personal journal that offers an intimate, day-by-day account of London life, politics, and major events such as the Great Plague and the Great Fire.
-
D.
Biographia Literaria
Biographia Literaria is Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s seminal autobiographical and critical work that blends literary theory, philosophy, and personal reflection, particularly on the nature of poetry and imagination.
-
E.
Studies of a Biographer
Studies of a Biographer is a collection of critical and biographical essays by Victorian man of letters Leslie Stephen, reflecting on the art and practice of biography.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
biography
ⓘ
book ⓘ non-fiction work ⓘ |
| author | James Boswell ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | Great Britain ⓘ |
| depicts |
English society in the 18th century
ⓘ
London literary life ⓘ life of Samuel Johnson ⓘ |
| genre | biography ⓘ |
| hasBiographee | Samuel Johnson ⓘ |
| hasBiographer | James Boswell ⓘ |
| hasCriticalReputation |
landmark of English biography
ⓘ
one of the greatest biographies in English literature ⓘ |
| hasLaterEdition | numerous annotated editions ⓘ |
| hasPart |
journal extracts by James Boswell
ⓘ
letters by Samuel Johnson ⓘ letters by contemporaries of Johnson ⓘ |
| influenced |
literary biography as a genre
ⓘ
modern biographical writing ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
James Boswell
ⓘ
surface form:
Boswell’s journals
James Boswell’s personal acquaintance with Samuel Johnson ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| literaryPeriod | 18th century ⓘ |
| mainSubject | Samuel Johnson ⓘ |
| notableFor |
detailed use of conversations and anecdotes
ⓘ
helping to define the modern genre of biography ⓘ psychological depth of characterization ⓘ rich documentation of Johnson’s circle ⓘ vivid portrayal of Samuel Johnson ⓘ |
| originalMedium | print ⓘ |
| placeOfPublication |
London, England
ⓘ
surface form:
London
|
| portrays |
Samuel Johnson
ⓘ
surface form:
Samuel Johnson’s conversation
Samuel Johnson’s friendships ⓘ Samuel Johnson’s health and melancholy ⓘ Samuel Johnson’s literary career ⓘ Samuel Johnson’s personality ⓘ Samuel Johnson’s political views ⓘ Samuel Johnson’s religious views ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1791 ⓘ |
| publisher | Charles Dilly ⓘ |
| relatedWork |
A Dictionary of the English Language
ⓘ
surface form:
Dictionary of the English Language
Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides ⓘ The Rambler ⓘ |
| settingTime | 18th century ⓘ |
| subjectOccupation |
Samuel Johnson as critic
ⓘ
Samuel Johnson as lexicographer ⓘ Samuel Johnson as writer ⓘ |
| timeSpanCovered | Samuel Johnson’s life from birth to death ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell Description of subject: Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell is a landmark 18th-century biography renowned for its vivid, detailed portrayal of the English writer Samuel Johnson and for helping to define the modern genre of biography.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.