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Swift: An Illustrated Life 1667-1745
Author(s): Bruce Arnold (Author)
- Publisher: The Lilliput Press Ltd
- Publication Date: 23 Sept. 1999
- Language: English
- Print length: 140 pages
- ISBN-10: 1901866394
- ISBN-13: 9781901866391
Book Description
Who was Jonathan Swift? This book examines this enigmatic figure in the light of his relationships – with his lover Esther Vanhomrigh, his ward Esther Johnston, and his male friends: Congreve, Temple, Bolingbroke, Harley, Pope, Addison and Thomas Sheridan. Though often caricatured as a bitter misanthrope, Swift can only be properly understood if we recognize his love of humanity and his capacity for friendship. The author traces this theme from Swift’s youth in Ireland and his literary and political apprenticeship at Moor Park in Surrey, and on through the years of greatness – the satires and pamphlets, the Church diplomacy at the Court of Queen Anne, and the writings of his maturity: the “Drapier’s Letters”, “A Modest Proposal”, and “Gulliver’s Travels”.
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Bruce Arnold is literary editor and chief critic of the Irish Independent.
