Question

George Steevens critiqued a work of this type that was announced weeks after the publication of a similar work by Thomas Tyers. That work of this type was by John Hawkins. A diary of “table talk” called the Thraliana informed a work of this type by Hester Thrale. A work of this type describes the freed Jamaican slave Francis Barber and an oyster-fed cat named Hodge. Involuntary tics described in works of this type led to a posthumous Tourette’s diagnosis for their subject, who in one of these works kicks a stone to refute George Berkeley’s idealism. (10[2])The most famous work of this type was built off of the earlier travelogue The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides. For 10 points, name this type of work, one of which by James Boswell details days (-5[1])in the life (10[1])of the British author of a 1755 Dictionary. ■END■ (10[1]0[4])

ANSWER: biography of Samuel Johnson [prompt on biography (by Boswell) by asking “of whom?”; accept Life of Samuel Johnson; accept Dr Johnson in place of “Samuel Johnson”]
<British Literature>
= Average correct buzz position

Back to tossups

Buzzes

PlayerTeamOpponentBuzz PositionValue
Dean Ah NowClaremont AUBC A9610
Cormac BeirneSorbonneTexas A9610
Aswath KaraiMichigan State AAppalachian State134-5
Isaac OlsonUW ATexas A&M B13710
Kathy LiangRice AIowa A14610
Roan DowlingIowa ARice A1460
Gavin BramerAppalachian StateMichigan State A1460
Ryan DunnIowa BTexas A&M A1460
Deepak MuthyalaTexas A&M AIowa B1460