DOCSLIB.ORG

"A Battle of Wits": Tubbian Entrapment in Swift

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2006 ”A battle of wits”: Tubbian entrapment in Swift Frischknecht, Andreas Abstract: Mein auf Leserreaktion basierender Zugang zu Swift beabsichtigt zu zeigen, dass Swifts satirische Schriften vor allem die Gefangennahme ihrer Leser zum Ziel haben. Satire wird somit als aktiver, den Leser miteinbeziehender Prozess betrachtet und ihre Eigenschaften und Strategien als ”Tön- nern” bezeichnet. Dies geschieht im Bezug auf das Bild der Tonne, welches gleichsam für Satire und daraus resultierende Lesergefangennahme in Swift steht und von Swift in seiner ersten grossen Satire, A Tale of a Tub, entwickelt wurde. Es gibt verschiedene ”Tönnerne” Eigenschaften in Swift. Swifts Satire ”neigt zur Drehung”; sie ist ”hohl” und ”leer”; sie ist ”lärmig, und hölzern”; und sie ist schliesslich besonders geeignet, ihre Leser, Walen gleich, ”durch Vergnügen” abzulenken (Tale 40). Folglich sind die markan- testen Merkmale ein Gefühl der Instabilität aufgrund konstanter perspektivischer Wechsel (”Drehen”); extremistische Natur und gleichzeitige Kritik an Extremismus, also Paradox, von einer grundsätzlichen Zirkularität der Methode stammend (die Form der Tonne); Leere, Abwesenheit des Autors durch Zuhil- fenahme satirischer personae und ein daraus folgendes Wertevakuum, in das der Leser gefangen wird und gezwungen, seine eigenen Entscheidungen zu treffen; Materialismus und Körperlichkeit, die satirische Methode der Demütigung durch körperliche Entfremdung; und schliesslich die Absicht des Erweckens von Interesse und Verwirrung durch eine Ansammlung verschiedenster Sichtweisen. My reader-response approach to Swift tries to show that Swift’s satiric writings are primarily designed to entrap their read- ers. Satire is perceived as process in action. I call the nature and strategy of reader entrapment in Swift ”Tubbian,” referring to features of satire presented in the image of the Tub, standing both for satire and consequent reader entrapment in Swift and developed in his first great satire, A Tale of a Tub. There are various Tubbian characteristics in Swift. Swift’s satire is ”given to Rotation;” it is ”hollow” and ”empty;” it is ”noisy, and wooden;” and, last but not least, it diverts its readers, whale-like, ”by way of Amuse- ment” (Tale 40). Hence, the most prominent features are a sense of instability due to a constant shifting of stances and perspectives (”spinning”), an extremist nature and simultaneous attack of extremism, thus paradox stemming from a basic circularity of method (the form of the Tub); emptiness, that is, absence of the author by employment of satiric personae, and a consequent vacuum of values in which the reader is entrapped and forced to make his own decisions; materiality or physicality, the satiric technique of deflation by way of physical defamiliarization; and, very importantly, diversionary intention, catching the interest of, and confusing, the reader by a heaping up of multitudes of perspectives. Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-163315 Dissertation Published Version Originally published at: Frischknecht, Andreas. ”A battle of wits”: Tubbian entrapment in Swift. 2006, University of Zurich, Faculty of Arts. 2 "A Battle of Wits": Tubbian Entrapment in Swift Thesis presented to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Zurich for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Andreas Frischknecht of Schwellbrunn / AR Accepted on the recommendation of Professor Allen Reddick Ph. D. University of Zurich Students' Press, 2006 Tubbian Entrapment in Swift TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................................ 3 INTRODUCTION: "TO VEX THE WORLD RATHER THEN DIVERT IT": ENTRAPMENT IN SWIFT ...................................... 4 SECTION 1: THE MODEL TRAP: SWIFT'S TALE AND ITS TUB........................................................................................18 Introduction: The Tale, Its Background, and Its Readers................................................................................18 Image and Model of Satiric Entrapment in Swift: the Tub ............................................................................31 Entrapment through Absorption: The Tub's Abundance of Material........................................................39 What lies beneath: Tubbian barrenness..............................................................................................................44 Physical Defamiliarization and the Tub as Materialistic Trap........................................................................47 "Dazzled their Eyes": Figurative Discourse as Trap ............................................................................................57 A Trap "Given to Rotation" and Swift's Absence...............................................................................................62 The Tub's Dialectical Extremism, Circularity and Self-Centredness............................................................67 Vexatious Experience: Fool or Knave?.................................................................................................................74 Reader Entrapment and Swift's Double-Edged Irony.....................................................................................78 Swift's Paradoxical Tub: the Trap and Its Innate Subversiveness.................................................................82 Exit the Tub......................................................................................................................................................................86 SECTION 2: ENTRAPMENT AND THE MAGNIFYING GLASS......................................................................................88 Introduction: Gulliver's Travels, the Tale, and Entrapment............................................................................88 Entrapment and Swift's Satiric Magnifying Glass..............................................................................................92 Swift's Gullible Persona: Gulliver as the Hack's Fellow Bedlamite ...............................................................98 Entrapment "between Nothing and Everything"............................................................................................101 A Voyage to Laputa: Swift's Theory of Relativity and Entrapment ..........................................................110 Ultimate Entrapment: Gulliver's Fourth Voyage ..............................................................................................121 Slavery and "A Certain Wonderful Yahoo (Meaning Myself)" ...................................................................124 SECTION 3: MYTHOLOGIZING SWIFT: SWIFT THE TUBBIAN AUTHOR.....................................................................139 Attempt at Demythologizing: Swift, Paradox, and Fideistic Scepticism ................................................155 CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................................166 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...........................................................................................................................................................170 -2- Tubbian Entrapment in Swift A B A T T L E O F W I T S. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I shall hardly be able to do Justice to my Master's Arguments and Expressions; which must needs suffer by my Want of Capacity, as well as by a Translation into our barbarous English.1 I would like to express my gratitude towards everybody who gave me their support and understanding during my work on this study. The actual point of departure of my project was based on coursework, discussions and encouragement on the part of my advisor, Professor Allen Reddick Ph. D., English Department at the University of Zurich. This is where my fascination with Swift's satirical strategies and imagery was inspired. Many thanks for the continual support I was allowed to experience there. Furthermore, I would like to thank my family and friends, who were always there when I seemed to be stuck with my project. The project was, in Swift's sense, a battle of wits, a bobbing with tubs, a battle and game, that is. Andreas Frischknecht St. Gallen, January 2006 1 Swift, Jonathan. Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First Surgeon, and Then a Captain of Several Ships. (1726). Gulliver's Travels: Complete, Authoritative Text with Biographical and Historical Contexts, Critical History, and Essays from Five Contemporary Critical Perspectives. Ed. Christopher Fox. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1995, p. 224. Subsequent quotations of Gulliver's Travels are from this edition and will be cited parenthetically in the text, with the abbreviation GT and page number. -3- Tubbian Entrapment in Swift S A T I R E T O V E X T H E W O R L D. INTRODUCTION "TO VEX THE WORLD RATHER THEN DIVERT IT": ENTRAPMENT IN SWIFT At a reopening of Dublin's Gaiety Theatre in 1984, without announcing what he was doing, actor Peter O'Toole read from the Modest Proposal and "prompted a mass walk-out of dignitaries." In a newspaper report on the incident, "O'Toole Defends 'Disgusting' Reading," the actor claimed that he wanted to capture Swift's savage indignation
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Shifting Persona in Jonathan Swift's a Tale of A
    THE SHIFTING PERSONA IN JONATHAN SWIFT'S A TALE OF A TUB THE SHIFI'ING PERSONA IN JONATHAN SWIFT'S A TALE OF A TUB By HARRIETTE WALLACE, B.A. I • A Tqesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts McMaster University . May 1971 MASTER OF ARTS (1971) McMASTER UNIVERSITY (English) Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: The Shifting Persona in Jonathan Swift's A Tale of ~ Tub AUTHOR: Harriette Wallace, B.A. (The College of St. Catherine) SUPERVISOR: Professor Gordon Vichert NUMBER OF PAGES: 160 SCOPE AND CONTENTS: This thesis endeavors to investigate the shifting rhetoric of A Tale of ~ Tub with the object of determining the nature of the speaker in both allegory and digressions. It concludes that a single voice, Modern by Swift's standards, speaks throughout. This voice adopts various Modern positions yet is not consistent in being Modern, for it does·, on occasion, let through Swift's own point of view. ii I wish to thank Dr. Gordon Vichert for his helpful suggestions during the preparation of this thesis. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. INTRODUCTION 1 II. THE PERSONA TRADITION 13 III. THE ALLEGORY AND ITS PERSONA 38 IV. THE PERSONA AND THE REST OF THE TALE 69 V. THE HEART OF THE MATTER: "A DIGRESSION ON MADNESS" 105 VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY 155 iv I INTRODUCTION This study began as a close reading of A Tale £!~~ with particular focus on its rhetoric. The Tale contains peculiar and confusing shifts in style and point of view, and by examining these shifts I have hoped to make my own judgment concerning the voice or voices responsible for them.
    [Show full text]
  • Gullivers Travels: Retold from the Jonathan Swift Original Pdf, Epub, Ebook
    GULLIVERS TRAVELS: RETOLD FROM THE JONATHAN SWIFT ORIGINAL PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Jonathan Swift,Martin Woodside,Jamel Akib,Arthur Pober | 160 pages | 26 Oct 2006 | Sterling Juvenile | 9781402726620 | English | New York, United States Gullivers Travels: Retold from the Jonathan Swift Original PDF Book In the discipline of computer architecture , the terms big-endian and little-endian are used to describe two possible ways of laying out bytes in memory. See also: Floating cities and islands in fiction. Related topics. Learn more - opens in a new window or tab. Outline Category. And shall we condemn a preacher of righteousness for exposing under the character of a nasty, unteachable Yahoo the deformity, the blackness, the filthiness, and corruption of those hellish abominable vices, which inflame the wrath of God against the children of disobedience. They are authoritarian there is no dissent or difference of opinion. Please enter 5 or 9 numbers for the ZIP Code. The orthodox Christian identification of the diminutive sinner with small unclean animals is made implicitly throughout the episode. Main article: Cultural influence of Gulliver's Travels. I guessed his meaning and my good fortune gave me so much presence of mind that I resolved not to struggle in the least as he held me in the air above sixty foot from the ground, although he grievously pinched my sides, for fear I should slip through his fingers. These were mostly printed anonymously or occasionally pseudonymously and were quickly forgotten. Film adaptations have tended to focus on the first two stories and include an animated film produced by the Fleischer brothers , a partially animated musical version starring Richard Harris as Gulliver, and a two- part television movie starring Ted Danson.
    [Show full text]
  • Politics in Jonathan Swift's Literature
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Repositorio Documental de la Universidad de Valladolid FACULTAD de FILOSOFÍA Y LETRAS DEPARTAMENTO de FILOLOGÍA INGLESA Grado en Estudios Ingleses TRABAJO DE FIN DE GRADO Politics in Jonathan Swift’s Literature Rebeca Carravilla Izquierdo Tutora: Ana Sáez Hidalgo 4º Grado en Estudios Ingleses 2 Abstract Jonathan Swift has been considered one of the most skillful authors of the eighteenth century due to his harsh and accomplished satirist style of writing, and the polemic that it caused in the society of the time. His masterpiece, Gulliver’s Travels, an apparently simple travel book - among many others of the time- seems to camouflage, nevertheless, a brilliant satire that does not differ too much from the political essays and pamphlets published by the same author. In those writings, he harshly criticized the situation of his country by not only blaming Irish politicians and the British government, but also the own population and the stupidity of the human race. In this dissertation, I intend to find out about the author’s ideology through the study of the ideas captured in his literature. For this purpose, I have first analyzed four of Jonathan Swift’s political essays. Then, I have examined Gulliver’s Travels from the perspective of the conclusions reached through these first readings in order to expose the connection between Swift’s political treatises and his fiction. Key words: Jonathan Swift, politics, corruption, Gulliver’s Travels, government, Ireland, England Jonathan Swift es considerado uno de los mejores autores del siglo dieciocho debido a su conseguido estilo satírico y por la polémica que causó en la sociedad de su tiempo.
    [Show full text]
  • The Library, the Labyrinth, and "Things Invisible": a Comparative
    i The Library, the Labyrinth, and “Things Invisible:” A Comparative Study of Jonathan Swift’s A Tale of a Tub and Jorge Louis Borges’ Ficciones A Thesis Submitted to The Faculty of the School of Communication In Candidacy for the Degree of Master of Arts in English By Amber M. Lockard 10 April 2009 ii Liberty University School of Communication Master of Arts in English ____________________________________________________________________ Thesis Chair Date ____________________________________________________________________ First Reader Date ____________________________________________________________________ Second Reader Date iii Table of Contents Chapter One—Introduction: “Reducing All Mankind:” A Comparative Study of Jonathan Swift’s A Tale of a Tub and Jorge Louis Borges’ Ficciones ……....……….…...…………………….1 Chapter Two: Ambushed by the Author—Fantasy, Allegory, and Narration in Swift’s A Tale of a Tub ……………………………….……………………….……….……………………….7 Chapter Three: Lost in the Labyrinth—Fantasy, Allegory, and Narration in Jorge Louis Borges’ Ficciones ….………………………………………………………………….………………22 Chapter Four: “Fancy Astride his Reason”—Reason in “Death and the Compass” and “Digression Concerning Madness”…………….………………….…………………………34 Chapter Five: The Womb and the Grave—Memory in “Funes, the Memorious” and “Digression Concerning Madness”……………………………………………………………………......49 Chapter Six: “The Empty Center”—Knowing in “The Library of Babel” and A Tale …...….62 Chapter Seven—Conclusion: A Meeting of Spirit and Mind…..……………………………78 Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………..…..81 Lockard 1 Chapter One: Introduction – “Reducing All Mankind:” A Comparative Study of Jonathan Swift’s A Tale of a Tub and Jorge Louis Borges’ Ficciones One of the most difficult and yet perhaps most revealing means of investigating the proclivities and flaws of the contemporary age is to compare the literatures of this time with the literature of a past time.
    [Show full text]
  • Language and Reality in Swift's a Tale of a Tub ?
    Language and Reality in Swift's A Tale of a Tub ?. ill if pi p 1 J \ Language and Reality in Swift's A Tale of a Tub Frederik N. Smith OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS : COLUMBUS Frontispiece Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Le Carceri ("The Prisons") Plate VII, second state (ca. 1761) Copyright © 1979 by the Ohio State University Press All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Smith, Frederik N 1940­ Language and reality in Swift's A tale of a tub. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Swift, Jonathan, 1667-1745. A tale of a tub. 2. Swift, Jonathan, 1667-1745—Style. I. Title. PR3724.T33S6 823'.5 79-15355 ISBN 0-8142-0294-2 To the memory of my mother and father Contents Preface ix Introduction 3 One Words and Things 9 Two Wordplay 27 Three Lexical Fields 49 Four Syntax and Rhythm 71 Five Language and Madness 93 Six Reality and the Limits of Mind 125 Glossary for A Tale of a Tub 145 Bibliography 165 Index 169 Preface The manuscript of a book may be written alone, but it is not revised without the opinions of others, nor does it reach publication without the assistance of still others. I owe a great debt to my friends Professor William B. Piper of Rice University and Professor Robert Wallace of Case Western Reserve University, both of whom read the entire manuscript and made innumerable, invaluable comments and criticisms—the majority of which I incorporated into the final draft. I wish also to thank my friends and former colleagues Professor Louis D.
    [Show full text]
  • Alphabetical Index of Articles Published in Swift Studies (1986-2020)
    Alphabetical Index of Articles Published in Swift Studies (1986-2020) Alderson, Simon J., ‘Swift and the Pun’, Swift Studies, 1996, 47–57 Apke, Bernd, ‘When Nature Took Sides: Richard Janthur’s Expressionist Illustrations of Gulliver’s Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms’, Swift Studies, 2013, 115– 27 Arnold, Bruce, ‘“A Protestant Purchaser”: Bartholomew Van Homrigh, Merchant Adventurer’, Swift Studies, 2000, 42–50 ———, ‘“Those Who Seek to Obtain My Estate”: Swift on Love and Envy’, Swift Studies, 1996, 25–45 Arnott, Les G., ‘A Letter to the Editor of The Independent: Modest Proposal’, Swift Studies, 2006, 125 Baines, Paul, ‘Swift’s Last Speech and Dying Words of Ebenezor Elliston: Reading the Ephemeral Text’, Swift Studies, 2013, 78–95 Baltes, Sabine, ‘Diversion, Dollars, and the Dean: Jonathan Swift and Popular Culture’, Swift Studies, 2004, 110–20 ———, ‘Father Time: The Emblematic and Iconographic Context of “The Epistle Dedicatory to His Royal Highness Prince Posterity” in Swift’s Tale’, Swift Studies, 2005, 41–50 ———, ‘“The Grandson of That Ass Quin”: Swift and Chief Justice Whitshed’, Swift Studies, 2008, 126–46 Bernard, Stephen J., ‘Jonathan Swift and A Key, Being Observations and Explanatory Notes, upon the Travels of Lemuel Gulliver, with a New Edition of A Key’, Swift Studies, 2012, 87–119 Blanchard, W. Scott, ‘Swift’s Tale, the Renaissance Anatomy, and Humanist Invective’, Swift Studies, 2001, 83–97 Bony, Alain, ‘Mutiny on the Adventure: A Possible Source of Gulliver’s Travels’, Swift Studies, 2004, 72–85 Boucé, Paul-Gabriel, ‘The Rape of Gulliver Reconsidered’, Swift Studies, 1996, 98–114 Boyle, Frank T., ‘Ehrenpreis’s Swift and the Date of the Sentiments of a Church-of-England Man’, Swift Studies, 1991, 30–37 Brown, M.
    [Show full text]
  • Gulliver's Travels" Author(S): John Robert Moore Source: the Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol
    The Geography of "Gulliver's Travels" Author(s): John Robert Moore Source: The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Apr., 1941), pp. 214-228 Published by: University of Illinois Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27704741 Accessed: 17-01-2020 16:44 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms University of Illinois Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of English and Germanic Philology This content downloaded from 117.240.50.232 on Fri, 17 Jan 2020 16:44:37 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms THE GEOGRAPHY OF GULLIVER'S TRAVELS I It is a commonplace that Gulliver's Travels is patterned after the real voyages of Swift's age, which it either travesties or imi tates. It lacks the supplement, describing the flora and fauna, so often appended to voyages; but it has the connecting links of detailed narrative, the solemn spirit of inquiry into strange lands, the factual records of latitude and coasts and prevailing winds, and (most of all) the maps. I have no quarrel with the present-day emphasis upon the philosophical background of Gulliver's Travels; that is a charac teristic contribution of the scholars of our generation.
    [Show full text]
  • A Tale of a Tub and Other Works Jonathan Swift Edited by Marcus Walsh Excerpt More Information
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-82894-9 - A Tale of a Tub and Other Works Jonathan Swift Edited by Marcus Walsh Excerpt More information ATALEOFATUB © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-82894-9 - A Tale of a Tub and Other Works Jonathan Swift Edited by Marcus Walsh Excerpt More information Figure 1. Frontispiece of ATaleofaTub, 1710. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-82894-9 - A Tale of a Tub and Other Works Jonathan Swift Edited by Marcus Walsh Excerpt More information Figure 2. Title page of ATaleofaTub, 1710; The British Library, shelfmark 1077.g.2. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-82894-9 - A Tale of a Tub and Other Works Jonathan Swift Edited by Marcus Walsh Excerpt More information Treatises1 wrote by the same Author, most of them mentioned in the following Discourses; which will be speedily published. A Character of the present Set of Wits2 in this Island. A Panegyrical Essay upon the Number THREE.3 A Dissertation upon the principal Productions of Grub-street.4 Lectures upon a Dissection of Human Nature.5 A Panegyrick upon the World. An Analytical Discourse upon Zeal, Histori-theo-physi-logically consid- ered.6 A general History of Ears.7 A modest Defence of the Proceedings of the Rabble in all Ages.8 A Description of the Kingdom of Absurdities.9 A Voyage into England,10 by a Person of Quality in Terra Australis incog- nita,11 translated from the Original.
    [Show full text]
  • Gulliver's Travels
    Gulliver's Travels Gulliver's Travels, or Travels into Several Remote Nations of Gulliver's Travels the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships is a prose satire[1][2] of 1726 by the Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, satirising both human nature and the "travellers' tales" literary subgenre. It is Swift's best known full-length work, and a classic of English literature. Swift claimed that he wrote Gulliver's Travels "to vex the world rather than divert it". The book was an immediate success. The English dramatist John Gay remarked "It is universally read, from the cabinet council to the nursery."[3] In 2015, Robert McCrum released his selection list of 100 best novels of all time in which First edition of Gulliver's Travels [4] Gulliver's Travels is listed as "a satirical masterpiece". Author Jonathan Swift Original title Travels into Several Remote Nations of the Contents World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Plot Surgeon, and then a Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput Captain of Several Ships Part II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag Country England Part III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Japan Language English Part IV: A Voyage to the Land of the Genre Satire, fantasy Houyhnhnms Publisher Benjamin Motte Composition and history Publication 28 October 1726 Faulkner's 1735 edition date Lindalino Media type Print Major themes Dewey 823.5 Misogyny Decimal Comic misanthropy Text Gulliver's Travels at Character analysis Wikisource Reception Cultural influences In other works Bibliography Editions See also References External links Online text Other Plot Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput The travel begins with a short preamble in which Lemuel Gulliver gives a brief outline of his life and history before his voyages.
    [Show full text]
  • "Text", and Swift's "A Tale of a Tub" Author(S): Marcus Walsh Source: the Modern Language Review, Vol
    Text, "Text", and Swift's "A Tale of a Tub" Author(s): Marcus Walsh Source: The Modern Language Review, Vol. 85, No. 2 (Apr., 1990), pp. 290-303 Published by: Modern Humanities Research Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3731810 . Accessed: 23/12/2014 16:56 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Modern Humanities Research Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Modern Language Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 159.178.22.27 on Tue, 23 Dec 2014 16:56:28 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions TEXT, 'TEXT', AND SWIFT'S A TALE OF A TUB Few printed texts make so apparent, or are so ingenious about, their textual nature and status as Swift's A Taleofa Tub,and few have given rise to so much interpretative controversy. The Tale has been a focus of some of the key disagreements in modern critical theory. It has been possible to think of the Taleas embodying, as the Apology of I 7 0 so repeatedly suggests, 'the Author's Intention', its satiric purpose being 'to expose the Abuses and Corruptions
    [Show full text]
  • A Tale of a Tub
    A Tale of a Tub By Jonathan Swift 1 Introduction and Preface ADVERT Treatifes writ by the fame Author, moft of them mentioned in the following Discourfes; which will be fpeedily publifhed. A Character of the prefent Set of Wits in this Ifland. A Panegyrical Effay upon the Number THREE. A Differtation upon the principal productions of Grub-ftree. Lectures upon the Diffection of Human Nature. A Panegyrick upon the World. An Analytical Difcourfe upon Zeal, Hiftori-theo-phyfi-logically confidered. A general Hiftory of Ears. A modeft Defence of the Proceedings of the Rabble in all Ages. A Defcription of the Kingdom of Abfurdities. A Voyage into England, by a Perfon of Quality in Terra Auftralis incognita, tranflated from the Original. A Critical Effay upon the Art of Canting, Philofophically, Phyfically, and Mufically confidered. DEDICATION TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JOHN LORD SOMERS. My LORD, Though the author has written a large Dedication, yet that being addressed to a Prince whom I am never likely to have the honour of being known to; a person, besides, as far as I can observe, not at all regarded or thought on by any of our present writers; and I being wholly free from that slavery which booksellers usually lie under to the caprices of authors, I think it a wise piece of presumption to inscribe these papers to your Lordship, and to implore your Lordship's protection of them. God and your Lordship know their faults and their merits; for as to my own particular, I am altogether a stranger to the matter; and though everybody else should be equally ignorant, I do not fear the sale of the book at all the worse upon that score.
    [Show full text]
  • How Allegories Mean in the Novel: from Personification to Impersonation in Eighteenth-Century British Fiction
    How Allegories Mean in the Novel: From Personification to Impersonation in Eighteenth-Century British Fiction Janet Min Lee Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2015 © 2015 Janet Min Lee All rights reserved ABSTRACT How Allegories Mean in the Novel: From Personification to Impersonation in Eighteenth-Century British Fiction Janet Min Lee This dissertation analyzes the legacy of Protestant allegory in eighteenth-century fictions. In doing so, the dissertation shows that personifications and allegorically inflected characters became increasingly opaque and vulnerable to charges of impersonation as the novel developed in the early and middle eighteenth century. I attribute the distortion of allegorical representation to the conflicting yet intermeshed interpretive frameworks that allegory and the novel demand of their readers. For evidence, I primarily analyze John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim Progress, Jonathan Swift’s A Tale of a Tub, Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, and Henry Fielding’s Jonathan Wild. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................. iii INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 “ALL THINGS IN PARABLES DESPISE NOT WE”: JOHN
    [Show full text]