Jonathan Swift(1667-1745)

• He was born in Ireland, in an English family

• He became a priest

• He was one of the most important writers of the Augustan Age

• In 1713 he became Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral - Dublin

Life in Ireland and England

• The Battle of the Books, 1697

His most important satirical works are:

• A Tale of a Tub, 1704

• The Drapier’s Letters, 1724

• A Modest Proposal, 1729

His masterpiece is

• Gulliver’s Travels, 1726

A Brilliant Satirist

• It is a novel divided into four books

• Fantasy and reality are mixed

• First-person narrator

• The reader has the impression of

listening to a confession

• It belongs to the tradition of utopian

narrative

Gulliver’s Travels

• Book 1: the Lilliputians exemplify the meanness and pettiness of our

world

• Book 2: the gigantic size of the people of Brobdingnag allows

Gulliver to see all the physical imperfections of men

• Book 3: with Laputa Swift satirizes modern philosophies and science

• Book 4: Gulliver is faced with the degraded humanity of the Yahoos

and the superior intelligence of the wise horses

Utopia vs Reality

Book 1

•Gulliver is shipwrecked in the empire of Lilliput

•At first he is made prisoner, but then Lilliputians start to trust him

•In the end he is allowed to leave the country

Book 2

•Gulliver lands in the country of Brobdingnag

•He is treated with great kindness

•He leaves the country by accident and is rescued by an English ship

The Story…

Book 3

• Gulliver lands in Laputa, a flying island

• The inhabitants are totally out of touch with reality

• Their knowledge is all theoretical, abstract and faulty

Book 4

•Gulliver arrives in the country of the intelligent horses, the

Houyhnhnms

•There are also the Yahoos, terrible creatures closely

resembling men

•Gulliver would like to stay with the horses, but he is forced to

leave

…The Story

Gulliver looks back with nostalgia to the days when he was adored by

the horses

I did not feel that natural awe which the Yahoos and all other animals bear towards them, but it grew upon me by degrees, much sooner than I imagined, and was mingled with a respectful love and gratitude, that they would condescend to distinguish me from the rest of my species.

Beloved Horses, Hateful Men

• The Yahoos are described as ugly and vicious

• Gulliver is a Yahoo

• Gulliver refuses his own race

When I happened to behold the reflection of my own form in a lake or a fountain, I turned away

my face in horror and detestation of myself, and could better endure the sight of a common Yahoo, than of my own person.

The Yahoos

• Gulliver returns to his wife and children

• Physical repulsion of men

• To endure life he keeps away as much as possible from human

beings

My horses understand me tolerably well; I converse with them at least four hours every day. They are strangers to bridle or saddle, they live in great amity with me, and friendship to each other.

Gulliver’s back Home