A Modest Proposal and Other Prose

by Jonathan Swift

Born of English parents in Dublin, Ireland, in 1667, Jonathan Swift lived in a time of unprecedented political and intellectual change, and his career and writing bear the marks of these momentous changes. Although his professional life centered on the Church of England, it was his brilliance as a writer that brought him, briefly, into the center of power as chief publicist for the Tory regime. With the dissolution of the Harley regime, however, Swift was "exiled" back to Ireland, where he spent the remaining decades of his life as Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Humor

265 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2004

About the author

Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, hence his common sobriquet, "Dean Swift".
Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver's Travels (1726), and A Modest Proposal (1729). He is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language. He originally published all of his works under pseudonyms—such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M.B. Drapier—or anonymously. He was a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles.
His deadpan, ironic writing style, particularly in A Modest Proposal, has led to such satire being subsequently termed "Swiftian".

Reviews

[M.M. Strawberry Library & Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the essays/stories in here are better than others, but this is a solid collection for anyone who is interested in Swift and his writings and wants a good introduction. I also recommend Gulliver's Travels, a novel by the same author.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Swift's prose is elegant and of its time. The issues that his satire relates are also, sadly, grounded in their time and lose some of their punch regarding political statements. There is a reason we know "A Modest Proposal" more than we know about "The Battle of the Books" or "A Tale of the Tub."

A better way to say this, Swift is at his best when his writing follows his name and the length is commiserate to the argument.