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Jonathan Swift: The Reluctant Rebel

Review

Jonathan Swift: The Reluctant Rebel

One of my all-time favorite novels is Jonathan Swift's classic, GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. Even though I have not read it in decades, it made quite an impression on me the handful of times I did. Hopefully, anyone who has taken a true English Literature course would have been assigned GULLIVER'S TRAVELS or even A MODEST PROPOSAL to study. If you did, you will probably recall that the stock opinion on the Dublin-born author is that he was quite the satirist in his time and had a reputation for an utter abhorrence of mankind.

Biographer John Stubbs tackles Swift’s life in this lengthy tome, JONATHAN SWIFT: THE RELUCTANT REBEL. Stubbs is an Oxford-educated writer who previously penned a biography on John Donne. The subject of his latest work was born in Dublin, Ireland, in the year 1667. Any writer raised during these times had much historical context from which to allude. In Swift's case, his birth took place during a tumultuous time in both Ireland and England that was rife with civil war. Later on in GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, Swift would reference the slew of “Yahoos” in Britain that came about during these rebellions.

Although Swift would serve the Church of Ireland later in his life, his early writings were called sermon-like, although the text had no place in any pulpit. He will literally have a love-hate relationship with the Church. His story A TALE OF A TUB was labeled by the Archbishop of York as blasphemous and utterly inappropriate. Much of his work seemed to be contrary to how he lived his life. Swift opposed any group that threatened the established order, yet his own writing showed many indications of counter-cultural beliefs.

"Thanks to Stubbs’ research and examination of both Swift and the prevailing times in which he lived and wrote, JONATHAN SWIFT: THE RELUCTANT REBEL is well worthy of whatever praise Stubbs will receive."

Much of Swift's ideas showed a fierce dichotomy. He was not fond of childhood, referring to his own as being a period when he was having his wishes and pleasures systematically crushed. His public career also found harsh contradiction as he felt an urge to dole out punishment while failing to suppress an irresistible delight in making mischief. It is hard for most critics of Swift to believe that someone who was both a doctor and dean could also be the terror of ministers and magnates.

Stubbs speaks to the morbidly deadpan aspect of Swift --- an attitude emotionally distant from all the scenes of life and diversion he surveys. Swift was a learned scholar and Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. His work, though, sought to both skewer and lampoon the abuses of learning and religion, with much of it reflecting the world he saw around him. In GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, a Lilliputian courtier tells Gulliver that “they labour under two mighty Evils, a violent Faction at home, and the Danger of an Invasion by a most potent Enemy abroad.” Swift did not mince words, and his criticism of England is more than evident in his written word.

There is so much material to delve into here that I will highlight where Swift’s life and the world were at during the writing of his most famous work. In high school English Lit class, it was easy to categorize Swift as a satirist and hater of mankind as the impetus for the symbolism within GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. Although Swift was often referred to as Dean Gulliver, he benefited from writing initially under the pseudonym “Lemuel Gulliver,” the story's protagonist. How ironic that Swift's first visit to London in 1726 was to deliver the book to his publisher and then leave before it was released. The novel was hailed as a classic to many, much to the chagrin of British critics, but scoffed at by the Brits because of the obvious and intentional literary swipes Swift takes at British government. If you take the opportunity to go back and read the book, you should keep the relationship between Britain and Ireland in the back of your mind, as much of the feeling and sentiment that existed when Swift wrote the novel is still alive today.

Thanks to Stubbs’ research and examination of both Swift and the prevailing times in which he lived and wrote, JONATHAN SWIFT: THE RELUCTANT REBEL is well worthy of whatever praise Stubbs will receive. This biography deserves a college literature class to fully examine the depths to which the author goes to bring Swift to life. Swift was indeed a rebel. While he was not able to say certain things in public due to the positions he held, he had an outlet --- the written word --- where he had free reign to say whatever was on his mind. This made him a hero to some and a scourge to others, but always original.

Reviewed by Ray Palen on April 21, 2017

Jonathan Swift: The Reluctant Rebel
by John Stubbs

  • Publication Date: February 28, 2017
  • Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction
  • Hardcover: 752 pages
  • Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
  • ISBN-10: 039323942X
  • ISBN-13: 9780393239423