Way before there was Taylor Swift, there was the original popular Swift: Jonathan Swift. (No, they’re not related…I think?)
Known most famously for Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift was also a scathing satirist, a poet, an essayist, and a cleric.
His first major work was A Tale of a Tub, originally published in 1704. It is regarded by many scholars as his most masterful satirical work.
This edition was published in 1902.
It was so good, in fact, that many scholars in the 18th and 19th century debated if Jonathan Swift was the true author (he is). Some believed that there was no way the same person who composed this “masterpiece” could be the same person who wrote what they regarded as the simplistic Gulliver’s Travels.
Others that debated Swift as the author were politically motivated. Swift went insane at the end of his life, and some people didn’t want the impression of the insane Swift to inhibit the perceived genius of the work, or the political parties that he both supported and skewered.During his lifetime, he was a popular author, scholar, and well-respected member of the church.A Tale of a Tub: Written for the Universal Improvement of Mankind. Swift crafted the unreliable narrator of this book to have an extremely inflated ego, and begins setting this up on the title page.
Download A Tale of a Tubfrom Project Gutenberg for your own reading pleasure.
This is really beautiful. By the way, I’m new to book blogging and I don’t know if you have been nominated/won before. But I nominated you in The Liebster Award ‘cuz your blog is really pretty 😀 Check my account for details hihi thankiee
3 Comments
Serene August
This is really beautiful. By the way, I’m new to book blogging and I don’t know if you have been nominated/won before. But I nominated you in The Liebster Award ‘cuz your blog is really pretty 😀 Check my account for details hihi thankiee
https://sereneaugustreads.wordpress.com/2016/01/23/the-liebster-award/
missusedbooks
Hi! Thank you so much! I am very new to book blogging as well! Thank you for the nomination, and good luck with your book blogging!
Camford Scholar
Taylor Swift (b.1989) and Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) are distant relatives.
John Swift (1365-1415) from Durham had two sons.
Taylor Swift is descended from Son 1 (1393-?).
Jonathan Swift is descended from Son 2 (1395-1420?)