The Basic Writings Of Jonathan Swift

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.

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read “It is universally read, from the cabinet council to the nursery,” remarked Alexander Pope when Gulliver's Travels was published in 1726. One of the unique books of world literature, Swift's masterful satire describes the astonishing voyages of one Lemuel Gulliver, a ship's surgeon, to surreal kingdoms inhabited by miniature people and giants, quack philosophers and scientists, horses endowed with reason and men who behave like beasts. Written with great wit and invention, Gulliver's Travels is a savage parody on man and his institutions that has captivated readers for nearly three centuries. As bestselling author and critic Allan Bloom observed: “Gulliver's Travels is an amazing rhetorical achievement. Swift had not only the judgment with which to arrive at a reasoned view of the world but the fancy by means of which he could re-create that world in a form which teaches where argument fails and which satisfies all while misleading none.” This representative collection of Swift’s major writings includes the complete Gulliver’s Travels as well as A Tale of a Tub, “The Battle of the Books,” “A Modest Proposal,” “An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity,” “The Bickerstaff Papers,” and many more of his brilliantly satirical works. Here too are selections from Swift’s poetry and portions of his Journal to Stella. Swift’s savage ridicule, corrosive wit, and sparkling humor are fully displayed in this comprehensive collection.

Draws on discoveries made in the past three decades to paint a new portrait of the satirist, speculating on his parentage, love life, and relationships while claiming that the public image he projected was intentionally misleading.

This work is an analytic bibliography of the writings of Jonathan Swift, containing a listing of every known edition or issue of Swift's work down to the year 1814 (except for the section "Biography and Criticism" which extends from 1709 to 1895). In this revised edition, Herman Teerink has added full collations of the works referred to. In addition, the titles of many 18th century mutations or parodies of Swift have been included together with works which allude to Swift or his writings. Arthur H. Scouten, a University of Pennsylvania professor of English and author of many bibliographical articles on Swift, who has carried on Dr. Teerink's work and prepared this volume for press, has consulted 18th century scholars and bibliographers. With their advice, he has kept the original Teerink numbers, since they are the common reference numbers among Swift scholars and are listed in dealers' catalogues. Because the new material and arrangement put these numbers out of order, they have been listed in a table at the beginning of the book with all the pages they appear on. So that they will not have to be sought throughout the entire volume, all the Faulkner editions have been placed together and all the printings of Gulliver's Travels have been collected in one section, where they are arranged chronologically by country. A full physical description of all important books and pamphlets, including those discovered since 1937 (the first edition), has been provided. The work has been brought up-to-date with the bibliographical findings of Swift scholarship of the past twenty-five years. A number of pieces apocryphally attributed to Swift have been deleted or placed in the "Doubtful" section. Finally, entries of books and pamphlets containing contemporary comment on a work by Swift have been placed where Swift's work itself is entered. This book is especially rich in its listings of translations of Swift's works into foreign languages. Also, since the first edition (A Bibliography of the Writings in Prose and Verse of Jonathan Swift, D.D.) has long been out of print, this volume will be invaluable to book dealers, bibliophiles, and scholars, teachers, and students of English literature.

This 'Norton Critical Edition' presents the rull range of Swift's writing, including not only the major literary prose works but also substantial poetic and political writings. The texts are accompanied by annotations and an introduction.