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Why did Samuel Johnson believe that people did not need to be famous to deserve biographies?
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biography
Self-portrait, oil on canvas by Giorgio Vasari; in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
Samuel Johnson believed that individuals did not need to possess exalted fame to be worthy subjects of a biography because he emphasized the importance of capturing the "minute details of daily life".1
He argued that these specific, everyday details are what effectively re-create a living character for the reader. By focusing on the authentic, granular experiences of a person rather than just their public achievements, a biographer could better reveal the true nature of an individual.1