The Writings of Jonathan Swift: Authoritative Texts, Backgrounds, Criticism

by Robert A. Greenberg (Editor), William B. Piper (Editor)

This volume contains the complete and definitive texts of virtually all of Swift's major works, as well as a generous selection of his poetry and other writings. Included are Gulliver's Travels, A Tale of a Tub, The Battel of the Books, A Discourse Concerning the Mechanical Operation of the Spirit, numerous essays and other prose pieces, and poems, among them several that are rarely reprinted. All of the texts are scrupulously edited and annotated.

A wide range of background materials is presented, including correspondence between Swift and members of his circle and observations by his contemporaries. The critical essays offer evaluations by Norman O. Brown, Samuel Holt Monk, Allan Bloom, Nigel Dennis, Edward W. Rosenheim, Jr., A.E. Dyson, William Frost, C.J. Rawson, Kathleen Williams, Martin Price, Robert M. Adams, and Jay Arnold Levine. An annotated bibliography guides the reader to important works for further study.

Genres: Fiction, Literature, Classics, Poetry, Criticism, Philosophy, Collections

721 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best single volume of Swift I know, offering GULLIVER and TALE OF THE TUB complete, A MODEST PROPOSAL (of course), and a broad selection of satires, political broadsides, miscellaneous essays,verse, and correspondence. The book has also taken exemplary care with the accuracy of its texts and contains a variety of essays about Swift's work. Very highly recommended.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must say that I struggled through Swift. His writings, though satirically brilliant, also have a pungent bitterness to them that makes me furrow my eyebrows. I did persevere and get through the whole collection, including the critical essays at the back. One of the many articles on excrement in the back of the book explains my mixed reviews of Swift, "The Yahoos represent the raw core of human bestiality; but the essence of Swift's vision and Gulliver's redemption is the recognition that the civilized man of Western Europe not only remains Yahoo but is worse than Yahoo--"a sort of Animals to whose Share, by what Accident he could not conjecture, some small Pittance of Reason had fallen, whereof we made no other use than by its Assistance to aggravate our natural Corruptions, and to acquire new ones which Nature had not given us." (Norman O. Brown, "The Excremental Vision")

A later essay quotes Huxley as once remarking that Swift "could never forgive man for being a vertebrate mammal as well as an immortal soul" (Dyson, "Swift: The Metamorphosis of Irony).

There just seems a bit too much misanthropy and not enough generosity in Swift for my taste. At least, he offers judgement universally against all, which could be seen as leaning towards a kind of ethics.

I struggle with Swift because I embrace moderns and ancients alike, almanac writers and Houyhnhnms. If only Swift had lived long enough to read Whitman, perhaps he would have been less political and more pleasant. Now, I sound like the harsh one!

[Esteban del Mal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This anthology's lynch pin is Gulliver's Travels; what's not to love about the Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral writing a story -- on the eve of the Enlightenment -- about a man that extinguishes a palace fire by urinating on it?

[Sean Lawlor]

"Gulliver's Travels" is one of the truly great books; It's a satire not only of ferocious wit but of truly brilliant and thoughtful insight. It not only exposes humanity's follies: It gives practical suggestions, in the example of the Brobdingngians, for how a society might be better governed.

[Danielle]

late 17th to early 18th

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gulliver's travels is a must read...and his poetry is hilarious! The piece titled A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed is downright comical and one of my favorites.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hounynhnms. Platform soles. Eating babies. The Pride of Kilkenny College.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am reading a 1961 edition that is annotated only on Gulliver's Travels.

[Keeko · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to have known this guy. Every compliment I can think of seems not quite enough, and he deserves them all.

[Albie]

Writings of Jonathan Swift (Norton Critical Edition) by Jonathan Swift (1973)

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

now I know where the term yahoo came from!

[Katie Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a fan of Gulliver's Travels, but the other poems and essays are interesting to read.

[Margaret Langstaff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant We are genetically similar, though I hope my satire and parody isn't as painful for the subject

[Rishi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compels you to think about the colonisation and the assumption of moral superiority

[Carlos Montijo]

Swift’s criticism of clergy cited by Word Fitly Spoken podcast:
http://wordfitlyspoken.org/2020/01/th...