High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Thraliana was a diary kept by Hester Thrale and is part of the genre known as table talk. Although the work began as Thrale`s diary focused on her experience with her family, it slowly changed focus to emphasise various anecdotes and stories about the life of Samuel Johnson. The work was used as a basis for Thrale`s Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson, but the Thraliana remained unpublished until 1942. The anecdotes contained within the work were popular with Thrale`s contemporaries but seen as vulgar. Among 20th century readers, the work was popular, and many literary critics believe that the work is a valuable contribution to the genre and for providing information about Johnson`s and her own life.