JONATHAN SWIFT

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on 19th October 1745 and was buried inside Dublin's St Patrick's Cathedral. A MISANTHROPIST AND A SATIRIST Swift hated humanity but loved individuals. These aspects are clearly visible in his works, which reflect Swift's attitude as a satirist and a misanthropist. His "Modest Proposal" ironically suggests that the problem of poverty could be solved by cannibalism, with starving children being used as food. His greatest books are: ● "A Tale of a Tub", here he criticised the two main non-conformist religions (catholicism and presbyterianism); "Gulliver's Travels", here he made fun of mankind, criticising England and English politics. GULLIVER'S TRAVELS "Gulliver's Travel" tells the story of four voyages made by an English surgeon called Lamuel Gulliver. He is shipwrecked on his first voyage and reaches shore in the land of Lilliput, whose inhabitants was tiny people. Initially treated with suspicion and fear, Gulliver is accepted as a friend and helps the Lilliputians. He saves them from attack by the neighbouring population of Belfuscans by stealing their ship. His second voyage takes him to the land of Brobdingnag. Here the people are gigantic. Gulliver is treated kindly but ridiculed as a freak and cannot maintain his dignity. One day he is picked up by a bird and dropped into the sea where he is saved by a human ship and taken back to England. The third voyage leaves him stranded on the floating island of Laputa. He meets the king and is astonished by what he finds in Laputa. Everybody is obsessed with abstract scientific theories. After he visits the Academy of Lagado and sees that the Laputians' Scientific efforts have destroyed society. On his fourth voyage Gulliver is abandoned in the land of the Houyhnhmns, a race of noble, intelligent horses. The houyhnhnms try to control a race of dirty, degenerate humans known as Yahoos. Although Gulliver is human, the master horses recognize that he is not like the Yahoos. THROUGH THE EYES OF LEMUEL GULLIVER Gulliver's travel is told "Through the eyes of Lemuel Gulliver". Gulliver is a reliable narrator and represents the prototype of the English middle-class man: for this reason the reader take the tale as true and verisimilar. Swift offers the reader the apparently objective point of view of an educated English observer as he visits different, strange lands and society. Swift's Gulliver uses the 1st person point of view to establish a direct relationship with the reader. A HYMN TO RELATIVISM This is a work that points to the relativism of opinions and points of view. England's ideas (honesty, truth) are explicitly compared to those Gulliver finds in the fantastic lands he visits. Perspectives are changed as Gulliver discovers the small-mindedness of the tiny people of Lilliput, who refuse to accept offers of peace. The giants are found to be lacking in real humanity as they fall to accept little Gulliver as more than a freak to be used for cruel entertainment In the society of Laputa he finds people incapable of looking after their physical needs, whereas the disgusting Yahoos are exclusively engaged in satisfying their vulgar physical needs. Even his respect for the Houyhnhmns can only leave our traveller unable to accept the reality of life.. Swift offers a catalogue of human folly and weakness, pointing out the impossibility of achieving a "utopian" society. A VARIETY OF MEANINGS Swift's novel is one of the most controversial literary works of English. Critics have pointed out that Gulliver's Travels can be read as: A book for children ● A philosophical tale A satire of western-centrism and of its religious, cultural and society "truths" A universal warning against the danger of religious fundamentalism. THE ACADEMY OF LAGADO UTOPIA AND DYSTOPIA Swift was not the first writer to use an imaginary travel book as away of discussing his ideas about society. Very often the writer of this kind of book wants to describe how his ideas would work in practice, and the imaginary place is seen as being perfect. Critics use the term "utopian" to describe this kind of book. Sometimes the imaginary place is seen as a terrible one and critics use the term "dystopian". The most famous example of this kind of book is Sir Thomas More's Utopia, published in 1516. The book tells the story of how the author meets a traveller who has been to a wonderful country called Utopia (means "no place"). The inhabitants share their possession, there is a national education system that benefits women and religious freedom. Francis Bacon's New Atlantis, published in 1627, tells the story of a visit to Bensalem. The book describe the social conditions of the islanders and explains how the islanders pursue truth through scientific research. Harrington's The Commonwealth of Oceana, published in 1656, uses the country Oceana to discuss the political problems of England after the civil war and the execution of Charles I. Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, published in 1684, is not really a utopian or dystopian fantasy, but it does involve an imaginary journey. It describes how the author sees a man in a dream, who tells him that his family and he will be destroyed by fire. Bellamy's Looking Backward, published in 1888, describes a dream of its hero, Julian West, a young american who falls asleep in 1887 and is carried into the future world of the year 2000. Here he discovers injustice and poverty have been eliminated. Morr's News from Nowhere, published in 1890, also tells a story of a dream. The narrator finds himself in a London of the future. The city has become a communist paradise, and people are happy and free. The narrator returns to the past to improve society. Butler's Erowhon, published in 1872, tells the story of the narrator's journey to Erewhon. The tale is similar to Golluvier's Travels because it uses the imaginary journey to satirise contemporary society. The most famous dystopian novels of the 20th century are Hexley's Brave New World, published 1932 (describes the world of the future where human life is based on a scientific, control system), and Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four, published in 1949, and a hero, Winston Smith, tries to resist the police state, but is eventually defeated by the power of Big Brother.