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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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This Halcyon Classics ebook edition contains six of satirist Jonathan Swift's works, including 'Gulliver's Travels' and 'A Modest Proposal.'Includes an active table of contents.

Contents

Gulliver’s Travels
A Modest Proposal
The Battle of the Books
The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers
The Journal to Stella
A Tale of a Tub
... Read more

Product Description
This authoritative edition brings together a uniqueselection from the full range of Swift's fifty-yearcareer--prose, poetry, and letters--to give the essenceof his work and thinking. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) isbest known as the author of Gulliver's Travels, whichalone would have secured his place in the history ofEnglish literature. But in addition to this classicfictional satire, Swift wrote numerous works concerningpolitics, religion, and Ireland, some savage, othershumorous, all suffused with his tremendous wit andinventiveness. This anthology includes satirical workssuch as A Tale of a Tub and The Battle of the Books,political pamphlets, pieces for the popular press,poems, and a generous selection from Swift'scorrespondence.Presented chronologically, theanthology offers a new and clearer awareness of theunity as well as the complexity of Swift's vision, andthe powerful bonds between disparate pieces. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Good introduction to Swift
I like this book. It gives you a good introduction to Swift. If you like the man, which this book tries to present through letters, then you can later read a more complete book with his writings.

GREAT IRISH WRITER STILL FRESHER THAN TODAY
Jonathon Swift, a wonderful Irish satirist long before such great Irish twentieth century parodists, ironists and satirists such as Joyce, Shaw, WIlde and Beckett, served as an inspiration for much of what is best in our twentieth century literature. Particularly post-modern is his Tale of the Tub which first satirized the then new conventions of the printed book, as well described by PRof. Hugh Kenner.

This volume gives a full view of the spectrum of Mr. Swift's writings, beyond Gulliver. By the way, do read Gulliver unabridged (not Disney) to understand among other things how he put out the palace fire, and how he served as intimate toy in the land of the giants, and as always, get intelligent commentaries for fullest understanding and insight

FOr the greatest in English literature beyond Shakespeare, turn to the Irish, always, odd for a nation whose greatest tale-telling tradition and tour-de-forces remain spoken rather than written.

No Gulliver's Travels
I haven't yet read the pieces in this book, but I was disappointed to find out that this book does NOT contain Gulliver's Travels.

One would expect that Jonathan Swift's Great Works would contain his greatest work.One would be wrong.

Gulliver
Gulliver's Travels has stood the test of time, but the question can still be asked: What kind of work is it? I would not qualify it as a "novel". Scholars continue to debate what "a novel" is and when it emerged in the English literature. My own feeling is that Gulliver's Travel is not part of "the rise of the novel". To begin with, it lacks the attention to detail and characterization that typify novels generally. In my opinion, there are many other reasons why GT cannot be deemed a novel. Unfortunately, there is not space enough to list them all.UGT is a satiric 'tale', not a novel. To prove that GT is a novel would be a large task.

Indeed, when GT was published the idea of "character" as being important in writing was not firmly established yet. As for the notion that Swift taught satire to England, this is again debatable. Certainly Swift broadened satire, but satire typifies the seventeeth and eighteenth century in general. Dryden, especially, redefined satire in a major way, long before Swift. Regarding the claim that England produced/produces the best literature in the world, this is debatable. What about Germany and France? In the last 50 years, France has produced a considerable amount of Nobel Prize winning authors - far more than England. What about Russia? Dostyovski and Tolstoy are widely held to be the greatest novelists ever. To say that England reigns supreme, without having read French authors in French, German authors in German, Russian authors in Russian (and so on), is presumptious.

To return to GT, it is chock-full of political allusions but enjoyable even to readers unaware of the politics.

Hey! Where's all the reviews?
This book, the major works of possibly the greatest English writer to ever live (that's saying something since England has the greatest writers, well, until the Beat Generation came along)should have a very long list of reviews. I want to know about this book people! You are being selfish!

Having read Gulliver's Travels, I can say that Jonathan Swift was a genius. These works have so much with their irony, wit, and expert satire to teach us. It contains Swifts two early works of prose, A Tale of a Tub, from 1704, exposes and satires abuses in religion. Swift was the Dean of the St. Patrick's church in Ireland. The Battle of the Books, written in 1696, but not published until 1704, was Swift's first book and I think it is in this great book. The Great Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)is usually known as the writer of the Greatest Novel of the 18th Century, Gulliver's Travels, but he is also known as Britain's greatest satirist. Swift is the one who taught the modern world how to satire and, like they say, "Whom Gods destroy, they first make mad." Swift went slowly insane after writing awesome works like Gulliver's Travels (1726) and A Modest Proposal (1729)because he was just too much of a genius for the human body to hold and because of the Menier's Syndrome and probable Alzheimer's Disease, October 19, 1745 was the day Great Britan and the whole world lost the greatest satirist to ever live.

Somebody Write a REVIEW DAMNIT!!! ... Read more

Product Description
No major figure of the English Augustan period has generated stronger and more contradictory views than Jonathan Swift. Scourge of the Whig ascendancy in his own day, vilified by the Victorians, celebrated by Yeats, he has in recent years become a significant bone of contention for prominent figures on the left like E.P. Thompson and Perry Anderson. In this highly original and subtle new study, Warren Montag situates Swift in relation to the ideological and political currents of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries - in particular to what Montag perspicaciously identifies as the long crisis of the British state. Swift's perspective, he argues, was determined less by his personality or psychology than by his position as an Anglican cleric. The church, an instrument of the Tudor and Stuart absolutist state, lapsed into institutional and ideological crisis after the Stuart's fall. In Montag's view, Swift's writings were a defense of this increasingly indefensible institution. Swift employed satire because only in the negative representations of this literary form could the now effectively 'unthinkable' doctrines of the Church be made to appear.Opening with a historical survey of the crisis of English absolutism and the Anglican Church, Montag then gives a definitive account of the specific conflicts in philosophy against which Swift's Anglican orthodoxy was aligned. Detailed examinations of Swift's two prose masterpieces, A Tale of a Tub and Gulliver's Travels, follow. Historically and philosophically informed, The Unthinkable Swift contributes not only to our understanding of a seminal figure in English literary history but also to the study of historical ideologies, in particular the once dominant religious tradition at the dawn of the first modern capitalist state. ... Read more

Product Description

By turns a children's fantasy and a social satire for adults, Gulliver's Travels is one of the most popular adventure tales of all time. "A Modest Proposal," also an imaginative, enduring work, is political lampoonery at its finest.

This Enriched Classic Edition includes:

• A concise introduction that gives readers important background information

• A chronology of the author's life and work

• A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context

• An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations

• Detailed explanatory notes

• Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work

• Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction

• A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience

Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.

Series edited by Cynthia Brantley Johnson ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good book
So I bought this book one week before the quarter started and the price was GREAT! Absolutely cheaper than what my school bookstore offered at. I bought with new condition and came in faster than I expected. ... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Product Description
The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. - Volume 06 - The Drapier's Letters is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Jonathan Swift is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Jonathan Swift then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

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Swift and Pope were lifelong friends and fellow satirists with shared literary sensibilities. But there were significant differences - demographic, psychological, and literary - between them: an Anglican and a Roman Catholic, an Irishman and an Englishman, one deeply committed to politically engaged poetry, and the other reluctant to engage in partisanship and inclined to distinguish poetry from politics. Dustin Griffin argues that we need to pay more attention to those differences, which both authors recognised and discussed. Their letters, poems, and satires can be read as stages in an ongoing conversation or satiric dialogue: each often wrote for the other, sometimes addressing him directly, sometimes emulating or imitating. In some sense, each was constantly replying to the other. From their lifelong dialogue emerges not only the extraordinary affection and admiration they felt for each other, but also the occasional irritation and resentment that kept them both together and apart. ... Read more

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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free.This is an OCR edition with typos.Excerpt from book:(3). ADVERTISEMENT.The following Historical Particulars were commuuicated to Mr. Nichols in 1777, by the Rev. Samuel Sai Ter, D. D. then Master of the Charter-house.THE " Tale of a Tub" was planned and composed about 1092, by Jonathan Swift, afterwards D. D. and Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin; but whether by him alone, or in concert and conjunction with another of his family and name, is not quite so clear : as it is, that great part of it was designed in favour and in honour of Sir William Temple, pn whom the Swifts were dependent in some sort, and under obligations to him. When the Tale, andc. was first printed, Mr. Wotton speaks of it, as generally believed to have been written, or published however, by a brother of Jonathan's ; which brother, he adds, was preferred by Lord Somers, at Sir William Temple's request, to a very good benefice|, in one ofthe most delicious parts of one of the pleasantest counties of England. This is invidiously aggravated; because Mr. Wotton conceived Lord Somers was indecently played upon, in the dedication addressed to him : and is besides false; at least in part: for Jonathan had no brother. His first cousin, Thomas Swift, one year only senior to him, though the son of a much elder brother, was presented by Lord Someis, and probably at Sir William Temple's request, to a crown living; which he held sixty years, and quitted but with life, in May, 1752, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. The same Lord Somers recommended Jonathan to Lord Wharton; but without success. Thomas preached a sermon in November, 1710, (it'is not specified where); which he printed. and prefixed to it a dedication to Mr. Harley, chancellor of the exchequer, afterward Earl of Oxford. f It is on Is. xi. 13,14, and is entitled, " Noah's Dove; an earnest Exhortat... ... Read more

Product Description
From the master of satire, Jonathan Swift, comes a collection of his classic satirical works. "A Modest Proposal and Other Satires" includes the following works: A Tale of a Tub, The Battle of the Books, An Argument Against the Abolishment of Christianity, A Modest Proposal, A True and Faithful Narrative, A Meditation Upon a Broomstick, Predictions for the Year 1708, and The Accomplishment of the First Year of Mr. Bickerstaff-s Predictions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

At war with the dunces
Famous now only for "Gulliver's Travels," Swift proves more cogently in his other satires that he is the English master of irony.For example, there is nothing remotely modest about what he proposes in "A Modest Proposal," which is that Irish people who are starving because of English economic policies should remedy their situation by eating their own children, boasting the added benefit of reducing the number of "papists."Like an eighteenth-century George Carlin, Swift is funny just for the blatant outrageousness of his words, but there is also a truthful undercurrent in much of what he says.

Swift, hereditarily an Englishman born in Dublin who became an Anglican minister and who was eventually sent back to Dublin--"exiled" as he called it--for the remainder of his life, made himself a mouthpiece for the Irish people and a gadfly to any authorities who he felt overstepped their bounds.In his "Drapier" letters, he warns the Irish not to take any wooden nickels; that is, to reject the base-metal currency being foisted upon them by the English in order to scuttle their economy.In his poem on "The Legion Club" he hurls hilarious verbal salvos at members of the Irish Parliament who are selling out to the English, caricaturing them as monsters and demons.

"A Tale of a Tub" goes everywhere, but the main narrative thread is an allegory of the Reformation.Three brothers, Peter, Martin, and Jack, inherit a fortune from their father and proceed to conquer the world, but entrapment by the vices (personified as women) incites them to squabble and results in a schism in which Martin (Luther) and Jack (John Calvin) leave Peter (the Roman church) for their own haunts.Interspersed throughout this tale are playful swipes at literary critics and pedants, including a fantasy on the professional windbags known as the Aeolists.Harold Bloom has called "A Tale of a Tub" the best prose work in the English language, and furthermore has said that he reads it on a regular basis to punish himself, which I think speaks volumes even if you don't value Bloom's opinion.

Religion is naturally one of Swift's concerns.He generally likes it, but he has the sensibility to say, "We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another."He advocates religious sobriety; in the "Mechanical Operation of the Spirit" he ridicules fanatics who claim to be able to communicate with God.His "Argument Against Abolishing Christianity" offers solid rationale for preserving the institution, one reason being that the criticism of it is the only forum which allows certain writers to exercise their rhetorical talents.

This edition also contains a short list of Swift's epigrams, at least one of which has achieved some notoriety: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."Mostly these are observations of human nature and its folly, and while not all may resonate, some are surprisingly timeless: "It is a miserable thing to live in suspense; it is the life of a spider."Remember that the next time you decide to buy a lottery ticket.

One view on homelessness
This book is very interesting and you will not be able to put it down.It is a satire, but may take some time to see the humor in it after you start to read it. This book was written about 200 years ago in Ireland and is a view by the author on what should be done about homelessness.Swift's views are shocking and gruesome, yet gripping.The premise of his view appears to be very cruel, yet after thinking about what he says, you realize it is a mockery and is meant to be humorous, while still proving a point.His point is important and opens your eyes to the world and homelessness. I recommend this book to anyone interested in satirical works as it is probably the best one that I have ever read.

What I think about all of this
I Personally think that the modest porposal is feasible.I think that If you read the story you will be able to understand all of it.There is no way out of what he has sugessted.HE is a very smart man and if you had no thoughts and or emotions you would be able to say the same if you were just given the poposal rather than read the book.Although he is feasible, or should I say his thoughts, what he has said will and never will work to solve the problem.in order to do so there needs to be some kind of agreement that states "I put all of my feelings aside and contmeplate with what the eral problem is.Nothing will ever be accomplished unless this is done.

Joseph Froehle

Essential reading
Economic advisors to governments ought to be tied down and made to read Swift's A Modest Proposal, along with Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations. The irascible Dean of Dublin's St Pat's had enough spleen in him for ten generations. His blackly intelligent satire is as sharp today as the day it was first published.

A Humorous Satarical Outlook on How to Escape Poverty
Picture this.The next presidential candidate for the United States presidency asks welfare citizens to eat their children so they can escape poverty.Not only would the opponent win a landslide victory, the candidate would probably be hounded and hunted by the rich and poor alike.Now, imagine the engaging British author Johnathan Swfit penning the peice entitled " A Modest Proposal,"where he asks parents in Ireland to eat their children for they are high in nutrition and by eating them, the parents will help hinder the threat of overpopulation.It appears to be gruesome and make a mockery of the Irish people, until we dig depper into the satirical peice to see that Swift was trying to convey the starvation and oppresion of the Irish people by writing the peice in an English publication as well as a time when you were either for England or for Ireland, but never both.Swift's humorous outlook is really an expression of disgust to the circumstances that surrounded the Irish under a harsh tolatarian English rule.He succesfully engages the reader through humor as well as a fascinating argument where he encourages the reader to agree with his argument. I enjoyed " A Modest Proposal"because it had elements that other satries on the same subject lacked, humor.Swift is succesful at what he does because he does not tell the readersoutright the conditions of the Irish people, but he weaves it skillfully into the essay, creating a fascinating, funny, and sharp essay. ... Read more

Product Description
This edition of Jonathan Swift’s basic works contains the authoritative texts of all his most important prose writings as well as many shorter pieces, poems, and letter extracts. Included are Gulliver’s Travels, Swift’s devastating picture of human nature and human foibles; A Tale of a Tub, his scathing attack on the intellectual culture and religious excesses of his time; The Battel of the Books, his defense of the classical tradition; and the unforgettable Modest Proposal, in which he proposes that the Irish, in order to avoid starvation, eat their children. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Basic Writings of Jonathan Swift - PRECIOUS VOLUME!!!!!
I can't believe that this great volume of just about everything Swift wrote is OUT OF PRINT!!!! WHY!!!!!!!??????!!!!??!
It has everything and is a facinating look into the mind of one of the greatest satirists who ever lived, It is a great look into the conditions of England and Ireland in the eighteenth century, and did I mention that EVERYTHING IS IN ONE VOLUME!!!!!

... Read more

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1971 French / English Edition. ... Read more

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In this complete edition of Swift's poems, Professor Pat Rogers has re-established the texts by reference to the manuscripts and early editions. He has modernized the spelling and included several poems collected for the first time. The notes, which take account of recent scholarship, explicate Swift's meaning more comprehensively. This volume also contains a Biographical Dictionary of Swift's comtemporaries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Swift
Swift's poetry, while lacking the control over language of Pope and Dryden, is still the work of a master.Find out how witty he can be--buy now! ... Read more

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The years 1711 to 1714 saw some of Swift's most brilliant and powerful political pamphleteering. Writing for the Tory government, he did more to settle the fate of parties and the nation than any literary figure, before or since. This volume collects together major defences of the government's position, including The Conduct of the Allies and The Publick Spirit of the Whigs, vigorous attacks on his opponents, short satirical broadsides, and brief contributions to periodicals. It also includes some little known work not present in previous editions of Swift.This is the first fully annotated edition of these works. A comprehensive introduction, drawing on contemporary literary and historical scholarship, is supported by detailed explanatory notes on each text. It is also the first edition to identify and collate all relevant contemporary editions and provide a full account of the textual history of each work. ... Read more