Jonathan Swift
Subtitle: the reluctant rebel
By: John Stubbs
Edition: First American edition.
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 739
ISBN-13: 9780393239423
Copyright date: 2016
Subjects: Irish Authors; Biography
Description: "One of Europe's most important literary figures, Jonathan Swift was also an inspired humorist, a beloved companion, and a conscientious Anglican minister--as well as a hoaxer and a teller of tales. His anger against abuses of power would produce the most famous satires of the English language: Gulliver's Travels as well as the Drapier Papers and the unparalleled Modest Proposal, in which he imagined the poor of Ireland farming their infants for the tables of wealthy colonists. John Stubbs's biography captures the dirt and beauty of a world that Swift both scorned and sought to amend. It follows Swift through his many battles, for and against authority, and in his many contradictions, as a priest who sought to uphold the dogma of his church; as a man who was quite prepared to defy convention, not least in his unshakable attachment to an unmarried woman, his "Stella"; and as a writer whose vision showed that no single creed holds all the answers. Impeccably researched and beautifully told, in Jonathan Swift Stubbs has found the perfect subject for this masterfully told biography of a reluctant rebel--a voice of withering disenchantment unrivaled in English."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Ireland and the civil wars; title: Upbringing; title: Abuses of learning and religion; title: The temples and the tub; title: Recovering Esther; title: Drifting with Whigs, 1702-1709; title: Recruited by Tories, 1710-1714; title: The phantom academy; title: Small dominions; title: Bursting bubbles; title: Dean Gulliver; title: Indecency and indignation; title: The last of the gold; title: Sanctuary.