This short satirical essay was published in 1729. Swift was living in Dublin as Dean of St Patrick's (1713 to 1745) which was an Anglican (Church of Ireland) cathedral. Swift was born and educated in Ireland and, by his own epitaph, was a fiercely indignant champion of liberty.
Here's a bit of history: James II was defeated in 1691, and subsequently various penal laws were subsequently enacted that punish Catholics - Catholic education is restricted, Catholic clergy are ordered to leave Ireland, Catholics can't buy land, Catholics can't hold public office. In 1727 Catholics lose the right to vote.
The Irish famine of 1740-1741 had not yet happened when Swift wrote this essay. Was Swift prescient? His proposal is that the children of the poor should be eaten by the rich. He argues this will reduce the number of Papists and give the poor a reliable income so that they don't have to beg.
I read Swift's bio on Wikipedia and it made me want to find out more about him. Wikipedia refers to Samuel Johnson's Lives of the Poets, so I've downloaded that (free) to Kindle as further reading. I've also downloaded (for $2.99) the Essential Works of William Makepeace Thackeray, who wrote English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century. I love my Kindle!
Here's Swift's epitaph:
"Here is laid the Body of Jonathan Swift, Doctor of Sacred Theology, Dean of this Cathedral Church, where fierce Indignation can no longer injure the Heart. Go forth, Voyager, and copy, if you can, this vigorous (to the best of his ability) Champion of Liberty. He died on the 19th Day of the Month of October, A.D. 1745, in the 78th Year of his Age."
Monday, December 27, 2010
20. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
It's interesting to read again a book that I first read as a teenager. Then I read it for the story, and completely missed the political satire. This time I appreciate the satire much more, and regret that I don't have a better knowledge of 18th century English politics and society, because I'm sure I've missed many of Swift's allusions. A lot of them could still be applied to today's society, I think.
It would be fun to write a modern version of Gulliver's travels, to question our own assumptions. Gulliver travels to Australia and is imprisoned as an 'illegal refugee'?
A new movie version of Gulliver's Travels has just been released. The reviews I've read have not been favorable, and I won't bother going to see it.
It would be fun to write a modern version of Gulliver's travels, to question our own assumptions. Gulliver travels to Australia and is imprisoned as an 'illegal refugee'?
A new movie version of Gulliver's Travels has just been released. The reviews I've read have not been favorable, and I won't bother going to see it.
Friday, December 10, 2010
19. Roxana by Daniel Defoe
And this is the third novel by Daniel Defoe that's recommended reading. I hadn't read this before. It was published in 1724 as The Fortunate Mistress.
Again, the story is told by the heroine. Roxana is wickeder than Moll, I think, because she's motivated by greed and vanity more than survival. But maybe it's understandable that after early poverty she wants the security of financial independence, and not to be dependent on someone else. Eventually she has affairs with princes, enormous wealth and a doting husband but it doesn't bring her happiness, as she has to lie about her earlier life and is terrified of being discovered.
I was shocked by Roxana's lack of feeling for her children, whom she palms off to relatives. The last part of the book is about the efforts of one of her daughters to get Roxana to admit she's her mother. Is this the first example in literature of a stalker? Roxana does eventually help her other surviving children, but this daughter is dealt with (the implication is she's murdered) by Roxana's maid and ally, Amy.
The relationship between Roxana and Amy is interesting. Early on in the story Roxana corrupts Amy (by getting her to sleep with one of her husbands). Is this because Roxana feels herself to be corrupt and wants to bring Amy down to her level? Then Amy is her go between and trusted companion. In the end Roxana drives Amy away (because Amy wants to kill her daughter and Roxana is revulsed) and Amy seems to have murdered the daughter anyway and then rejoined her.
The story ends very abruptly. In the very last paragraph, Roxana and her husband arrive in Holland in flourishing circumstances, then Roxana and Amy fall "into a dreadful course of calamities ... The blast of Heaven seemed to follow the injury done the poor girl by us both, and I was brought so low again that my repentance seemed to be only the consequence of my misery, as my misery was of my crime".
So it seems to me that Roxana contrasts with Robinson Crusoe. He is selfish and ambitious, but through sufferings and insight is reformed. She is wicked, and miserable, but her repentance is because of her misery - she lacks Robinson's insight.
Again, the story is told by the heroine. Roxana is wickeder than Moll, I think, because she's motivated by greed and vanity more than survival. But maybe it's understandable that after early poverty she wants the security of financial independence, and not to be dependent on someone else. Eventually she has affairs with princes, enormous wealth and a doting husband but it doesn't bring her happiness, as she has to lie about her earlier life and is terrified of being discovered.
I was shocked by Roxana's lack of feeling for her children, whom she palms off to relatives. The last part of the book is about the efforts of one of her daughters to get Roxana to admit she's her mother. Is this the first example in literature of a stalker? Roxana does eventually help her other surviving children, but this daughter is dealt with (the implication is she's murdered) by Roxana's maid and ally, Amy.
The relationship between Roxana and Amy is interesting. Early on in the story Roxana corrupts Amy (by getting her to sleep with one of her husbands). Is this because Roxana feels herself to be corrupt and wants to bring Amy down to her level? Then Amy is her go between and trusted companion. In the end Roxana drives Amy away (because Amy wants to kill her daughter and Roxana is revulsed) and Amy seems to have murdered the daughter anyway and then rejoined her.
The story ends very abruptly. In the very last paragraph, Roxana and her husband arrive in Holland in flourishing circumstances, then Roxana and Amy fall "into a dreadful course of calamities ... The blast of Heaven seemed to follow the injury done the poor girl by us both, and I was brought so low again that my repentance seemed to be only the consequence of my misery, as my misery was of my crime".
So it seems to me that Roxana contrasts with Robinson Crusoe. He is selfish and ambitious, but through sufferings and insight is reformed. She is wicked, and miserable, but her repentance is because of her misery - she lacks Robinson's insight.
18. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
Another book by Daniel Defoe - three of his are recommended in this collection. Moll Flanders was published in 1722.
Moll tells her own story which includes five marriages (including an incestuous marriage in America with her unrecognised brother), prostitution and 12 years as a successful thief. She escapes the death sentence and is transported to Virginia with one of her husbands (a highwayman) where they set up a plantation and make their fortune.
Moll's a survivor, and does whatever she has to do to escape poverty and maintain her independence. You can't help admiring her.
Moll tells her own story which includes five marriages (including an incestuous marriage in America with her unrecognised brother), prostitution and 12 years as a successful thief. She escapes the death sentence and is transported to Virginia with one of her husbands (a highwayman) where they set up a plantation and make their fortune.
Moll's a survivor, and does whatever she has to do to escape poverty and maintain her independence. You can't help admiring her.
17. Love In Excess by Eliza Haywood
I couldn't find Love in Excess in the Kindle Store, but I did find some other books by Eliza Haywood. I've downloaded The Fortunate Foundlings but haven't read it yet.
Post Script:
I've just finished The Fortunate Foundlings. It's a romance about the adventures of twin foundlings, left on the doorstep of a nobleman who becomes their guardian. The boy joins the army, is captured by the French, falls in love, is freed and joins the Swiss army, is captured by the Russians, is freed and returns to Paris. The girl runs away after her guardian falls in love with her, becomes a noblewoman's companion, falls in love, is pursued by a wicked nobleman, takes sanctuary in a convent, escapes, and walks to Paris looking for her lover. Their guardian finds them and reveals he is their natural father, they are reunited with their respective lovers, and marry.
This is a plot worthy of Mills and Boon. Eliza Haywood lived 1693 to 1756. In my favorite Regency romances, heroines are often found reading 'unsuitable' romances and I'm guessing they might well have been reading Eliza Haywood.
Post Script:
I've just finished The Fortunate Foundlings. It's a romance about the adventures of twin foundlings, left on the doorstep of a nobleman who becomes their guardian. The boy joins the army, is captured by the French, falls in love, is freed and joins the Swiss army, is captured by the Russians, is freed and returns to Paris. The girl runs away after her guardian falls in love with her, becomes a noblewoman's companion, falls in love, is pursued by a wicked nobleman, takes sanctuary in a convent, escapes, and walks to Paris looking for her lover. Their guardian finds them and reveals he is their natural father, they are reunited with their respective lovers, and marry.
This is a plot worthy of Mills and Boon. Eliza Haywood lived 1693 to 1756. In my favorite Regency romances, heroines are often found reading 'unsuitable' romances and I'm guessing they might well have been reading Eliza Haywood.
16. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
I thought I knew this story, but it's quite different from how I remembered. Robinson Crusoe is a selfish and ambitious young man who rejects the secure, mundane life offered by his family and goes off to make his fortune as a plantation owner in Brazil.
When he's shipwrecked, he starts to question why he alone was saved, and why he was able to rescue from the ship enough goods to survive. By degrees he starts to believe that God was giving him a chance to reform his life.
He rescues Friday from Caribbean cannibals, and then he and Friday rescue the captain of a ship whose crew has mutinied. They leave the mutineers on the island and sail home. He's able to sell his plantation for a fortune and rewards everyone who helped him. Later he revisits the island, now a thriving community. The story ends with the promise of a second part to the story and his further adventures.
So it's a story about how a man transforms himself through adversity, as well as a great yarn about survival.
When he's shipwrecked, he starts to question why he alone was saved, and why he was able to rescue from the ship enough goods to survive. By degrees he starts to believe that God was giving him a chance to reform his life.
He rescues Friday from Caribbean cannibals, and then he and Friday rescue the captain of a ship whose crew has mutinied. They leave the mutineers on the island and sail home. He's able to sell his plantation for a fortune and rewards everyone who helped him. Later he revisits the island, now a thriving community. The story ends with the promise of a second part to the story and his further adventures.
So it's a story about how a man transforms himself through adversity, as well as a great yarn about survival.
15. A Tale of a Tub by Jonathan Swift
Now we're up to the 1700's. Jonathan Swift (better known as the author of Gulliver's Travels) published this satire on religious propaganda in 1704. At the heart of the story is an allegory in which a father leaves his three sons a coat each, and forbids them to embellish the coats. The sons first twist their father's instructions and then ignore them completely, then two of the sons strip off all the decorations (one carefully, one recklessly). It's supposed to be an Calvinist allegory about how the Catholic Church needs to be reformed, but Swift is mocking Calvinism and religion in general, I think.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)