Modest Proposal [Audio Cassette]

This excellent selection of Swift's shorter prose pieces gives the reader a reliable and sufficient cross-section of his work apart from his two masterpieces of satire, Gulliver's Travels and A Tale of a Tub. Letters, journal extracts and periodical essays supplement the famous pamphlets on English politics and Irish affairs. The selections follow chronological order, taking us from the sheer fun of The Bickerstaff Papers to the hard-hitting political commentary of The Drapier's Letters and on to the supremely bitter irony of A Modest Proposal. In these writings we encounter a complex and passionate man, capable of deep personal loyalty and genuine concern for the disadvantaged. In an age when ambition had to contend with the reality of political patronage, he had the courage to stay true to his principles even when his friends were swept from power. However he was not always wise or fair in his attacks on political enemies and his version of history can't be taken at face value. But what I found most surprising in reading these works was their relevance to many of the issues of our own time. Swift wrote in a period when some of the most striking aspects of modern society were taking firm root: the replacement of authoritarian government by party politics, the questioning of established religion, the rise of pluralism or "dissent" and perhaps most of all, the steady increase in the power of commerce and finance over all aspects of national life. When he denounces "the Contrivance and Cunning of Stock-Jobbers" and their "unintelligible Jargon of Terms", Swift could be writing about the market meltdown of 2008 and credit default swaps! His lifelong concern for the health of the English language found expression in several of the selections included here, among them the still-pertinent (and very funny) essay on "the continual corruption of our English Tongue". It's startling to think that Swift, the greatest writer of his day, was in effect the "communications director" for the English government for a period of several years. The equivalent position today is often filled by someone from the tabloid press or the PR industry.

Though some of the selections in this compilation have dated (particularly the Directions to Servants and Polite Conversation) much in Swift can still move us and delight us today and anyone with a taste for English prose at its wittiest and most lively will enjoy this book. The editor has provided an introduction, extensive notes, a glossary and a biographical dictionary. Highly recommended.