第六讲 Jonathan Swift.ppt

* Jonathan Swift 1710- 1714 chief editor of The Examiner, a newspaper of the Tories; Satire The Battle of Books (1704): value of books at various ages; A Tale of A Tub (1704): corruption in learning and religion – 3 brothers, Peter, Martin Jack inherits respectively 3 coats form their father. Though their father has told them not to make Born in Dublin, education at Trinity College; any change to the coats, they soon begin to change their coats to be in fashion under the leadership of Peter. Later on Martin Jack are fed up with Peter’s arrogance, and Martin tears the ornaments from the coat while Jack destroys the coat (the coat: word of God; Peter: Roman Catholicism; Martin: the Anglican Church; Jack: Puritanism). “A Modest Proposal”: sympathy for the Irish; Gulliver’s Travels: allegorical, unparalleled satire. One of the greatest masters of English prose simple, straightforward style – very clear. “Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of the style.” Gulliver’s Travels (1726) * 4 parts: Part I. Lilliput (nation of 6 inch people) current politics– High Heels Party Low Heels Party; religious disputes– should egg be broken at the big end or the small end? Part II. Brobdingnag (nation of 60 feet people) the king talks of England: “I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.” Par III. Laputa (flying island) satire against philosophers, men of science, historians projectors Part IV. Houyhmhyms (horses with reason) simplicity virtues of the horses vs disgusting brutality of the Yahoos. * A powerful satire on men