Critical companion to Jonathan Swift: a literary reference to his life and works

Abstract

Best known as the author of Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan is one of literature's great satirists. Born and educated in Ireland, became a politician and clergyman in England, where he wrote essays, pamphlets, poems, and fiction that addressed the political issues and social conditions of his time. In Gulliver's Travels, he introduced the allegorical settings of Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, and the island of the Houyhnhnms, as well as the term Yahoos, in a playful but dark satirical reflection on mankind. His other works include A Modest Proposal, A Tale of a Tub, The Battle of the Books, Journal to Stella, and Drapier's Letters, among others. Critical Companion to Jonathan Swift contains extensive analyses of all Swift's major works. This accessible volume also examines his influences, including family, friends, relatives, and acquaintances, as well as important places where he lived and worked. In this single-volume reference, admirers, general readers, and lovers of literature will discover hundreds of entries covering every aspect of Swift's life and work. Additional features include a chronology of Swift's life and bibliographies of primary and secondary sources. This volume will guide readers through Swift's fascinating life and work and illuminate his often bitter but brilliant reflections on humankind. Coverage includes: a concise, but thorough biography of Swift; entries on all Swift's major and minor works, with extensive commentary on the major works, including Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal, A Tale of a Tub, The Battle of the Books, Journal to Stella, Drapier's Letters, and many more; entries on people important to Swift, including his friends, relatives, associates, and critics; and examinations of the major intellectual, religious, political, and literary influences on Swift, topics and themes in his work, and more.