Jonathan Swift ( )

He was born in Ireland, in an English family He became a priest He was one of the most important writers of the Augustan Age In 1713 he became Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral - Dublin Life in Ireland and England

The Battle of the Books, 1697 His most important satirical works are: A Tale of a Tub, 1704 The Drapier’s Letters, 1724 A Modest Proposal, 1729 His masterpiece is Gulliver’s Travels, 1726 A Brilliant Satirist

It is a novel divided into four books Fantasy and reality are mixed First-person narrator The reader has the impression of listening to a confession It belongs to the tradition of utopian narrative Gulliver’s Travels

Book 1: the Lilliputians exemplify the meanness and pettiness of our world Book 2: the gigantic size of the people of Brobdingnag allows Gulliver to see all the physical imperfections of men Book 3: with Laputa Swift satirizes modern philosophies and science Book 4: Gulliver is faced with the degraded humanity of the Yahoos and the superior intelligence of the wise horses Utopia vs Reality

Book 1 Gulliver is shipwrecked in the empire of Lilliput At first he is made prisoner, but then Lilliputians start to trust him In the end he is allowed to leave the country Book 2 Gulliver lands in the country of Brobdingnag He is treated with great kindness He leaves the country by accident and is rescued by an English ship The Story…

Book 3 Gulliver lands in Laputa, a flying island The inhabitants are totally out of touch with reality Their knowledge is all theoretical, abstract and faulty Book 4 Gulliver arrives in the country of the intelligent horses, the Houyhnhnms There are also the Yahoos, terrible creatures closely resembling men Gulliver would like to stay with the horses, but he is forced to leave …The Story

Gulliver looks back with nostalgia to the days when he was adored by the horses I did not feel that natural awe which the Yahoos and all other animals bear towards them, but it grew upon me by degrees, much sooner than I imagined, and was mingled with a respectful love and gratitude, that they would condescend to distinguish me from the rest of my species. Beloved Horses, Hateful Men

The Yahoos are described as ugly and vicious Gulliver is a Yahoo Gulliver refuses his own race When I happened to behold the reflection of my own form in a lake or a fountain, I turned away my face in horror and detestation of myself, and could better endure the sight of a common Yahoo, than of my own person. The Yahoos

Gulliver returns to his wife and children Physical repulsion of men To endure life he keeps away as much as possible from human beings My horses understand me tolerably well; I converse with them at least four hours every day. They are strangers to bridle or saddle, they live in great amity with me, and friendship to each other. Gulliver’s back Home