Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift’s classic essay A Modest Proposal is one of the most iconic essays ever written and is a perfect example of hyperbole and satire. A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People From Being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick, commonly referred to as A Modest Proposal, is a Juvenalian satirical essay written and published anonymously by Jonathan Swift in 1729. Swift suggests that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies. This satirical hyperbole mocks heartless attitudes towards the poor, who were predominantly Irish Catholic, as well as British policy towards the Irish in general.

A wickedly clever satire uses comic inversions to offer telling insights into the nature of man and society. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. Gulliver's Travels describes the four voyages of Lemuel Gulliver, a ship's surgeon. In Lilliput he discovers a world in miniature; towering over the people and their city, he is able to view their society from the viewpoint of a god. However, in Brobdingnag, a land of giants, tiny Gulliver himself comes under observation, exhibited as a curiosity at markets and fairs. In Laputa, a flying island, he encounters a society of speculators and projectors who have lost all grip on everyday reality; while they plan and calculate, their country lies in ruins. Gulliver's final voyage takes him to the land of the Houyhnhnms, gentle horses whom he quickly comes to admire - in contrast to the Yahoos, filthy bestial creatures who bear a disturbing resemblance to humans. This text, based on the first edition of 1726, reproduces all the original illustrations and includes an introduction by Robert Demaria, Jr, which discusses the ways Gulliver's Travels has been interpreted since its first publication. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was born in Dublin. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

«Сказка бочки» - памфлет Д. Свифта, направленный против современной ему церкви и человеческих пороков. Памфлет состоит из двух сюжетных линий. Одна — история троих братьев, вторая — отступления, имеющие конкретных адресатов: актеров, ораторов, чиновников, ученых и т. д. Три брата олицетворяют собой течения христианской церкви. Петр — католицизм, Джек — кальвинизм, Мартин — лютеранство и англиканскую церковь. В том, как они пытаются поделить отцовский кафтан, Свифт сатирически изображает разделение христианства и нещадно изобличает пороки всех церковных служителей. Читателя поразит остроумие автора и легкость слога его произведения.

The originality, concentrated power and ‘fierce indignation’ of his satirical writing have earned Jonathan Swift a reputation as the greatest prose satirist in English literature. Gulliver’s Travels is, of course, his world renowned masterpiece in the genre; however, Swift wrote other, shorter works that also offer excellent evidence of his inspired lampoonery. Perhaps the most famous of these is A Modest Proposal, in which he straight-facedly suggests that Ireland could solve its hunger problems by using its children for food. Also included in this collection are The Battle of Books, A Meditation upon a Broomstick, A Discourse Concerning the Mechanical Operations of the Spirit and An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity in England. This inexpensive edition will certainly be welcomed by teachers and students of English literature, but its appeal extends to any reader who delights in watching a master satirist wield words as weapons.

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In this narrative of the gullible ship’s doctor Lemuel Gulliver and his extraordinary travels, Jonathan Swift takes readers through a series of apparently child-like fantasy worlds of tiny people and giants, floating islands and talking horses. But through this fantastic journey, he also gave to literature an enduring model of mankind’s follies, vulnerabilities, vanities, and self-destructiveness. Dangerously topical in its own time and much debated ever since, Gulliver’s Travels is among those works of English literature that entrap and challenge readers in every period. This edition uses the 1735 edition as the copy text, retaining the original, unmodernized text. Historical appendices provide a context for the novel’s literary models, scientific influences, and complex political and religious allusions.

Um clássico absoluto que oferece caminhos diversos de leitura e interpretação, da sátira pura à análise política e à reflexão filosófica sobre a nossa existência. Uma das grandes sátiras da literatura de língua inglesa, Viagens de Gulliver vai muito além do imaginário criado sobre o explorador que se descobre gigante em meio aos diminutos liliputianos.Parodiando os relatos de viagem em voga na época, Jonathan Swift constrói uma narrativa especular e corrosiva que usa o sarcasmo de modo genial para fazer uma crítica feroz à Inglaterra, à monarquia, ao progresso, à ciência e ao olhar arrogante do colonizador. Como um etnógrafo aprendiz que esquadrinha culturas consideradas primitivas, Gulliver enxerga nelas apenas a manifestação do selvagem, do inferior, até perceber as contradições e desumanidades da sociedade dita moderna, tão ou mais primitiva que as outras.Divertida, amarga e irônica, a obra maior de Swift é um tratado ácido sobre a civilização humana, suas relações e instituições marcadas pela hipocrisia, pelo preconceito e pela ganância.

El día que el joven Lemuel Gulliver decidió embarcar en un navío como médico de a bordo no podía sospechar que su viaje lo llevaría a islas imposibles, a territorios inexplorados, a universos que desafían toda lógica en los que iba a vivir las aventuras más apasionantes. Tras despertar de un naufragio se hallará en una isla habitada por gente de no más de un palmo de altura, luego dará con sus huesos en una ciudad llena de gigantes, visitará un mundo que flota en el aire, un país gobernado por caballos... La mezcla de la parodia de la sociedad europea, sus formas de gobierno y de religión, y hasta de la misma naturaleza humana, con la entretenida literatura de viajes que realizó Jonathan Swift en Los viajes de Gulliver dio como resultado este gran clásico de la literatura juvenil, una obra de la que los lectores de todas las edades pueden obtener más que jugosa lectura.