Swift and Others

318 Pages·2015·1.47 MB·English

by  Claude Rawson

SWIFT AND OTHERS
JonathanSwift’sinfluenceonthewritingsandpoliticsofEnglandand
Ireland was reinforced by a combination of contradictory forces: an
authoritarian attachment to tradition and rule, and a vivid respon-
sivenesstothedisordersofamodernityheresistedandyethelpedto
create.Hewas,perhapsevenmorethanPope,adominantvoiceofhis
times. The rich variety of the literary culture to which he belonged
showsthepenetrationofhisideas,personalityandstyle.Thisistrue
of writers who were his friends and admirers (Pope), of adversaries
(Mandeville, Johnson), of several who became great ironists in his
shadow(Gibbon,Austen),andofsomesurprisingexamplesofSwif-
tian afterlife (Chatterton). Claude Rawson, leading scholar of the
works of Swift, brings together recent essays, as well as classic ear-
lierworkextensivelyrevised,toofferfreshinsightsintoanerawhen
Swift’svoicewasapervasivepresence.
claude rawson isMaynardMackProfessorEmeritusofEnglish
atYaleUniversity.HeisaGeneralEditorofTheCambridgeEdition
of the Works of Jonathan Swift and author of God, Gulliver, and
Genocide:BarbarismandtheEuropeanImagination1492–1945(2001)
andSwift’sAngers(Cambridge,2014).Heismostrecentlytheeditor
of Essential Writings of Jonathan Swift: A Norton Critical Edition
(co-edited with Ian Higgins, 2010); Great Shakespeareans: Volume
1,Dryden,Pope,Johnson,Malone(2010);LiteratureandPoliticsinthe
AgeofSwift:EnglishandIrishPerspectives(Cambridge,2010)andThe
CambridgeCompaniontoEnglishPoets(Cambridge,2011).

SWIFT AND OTHERS
CLAUDE RAWSON
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Rawson,ClaudeJulien.
SwiftandOthers/ClaudeRawson.
pages cm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-03478-5(hardback)
1.Swift,Jonathan,1667–1745–Influence. I.Title.
pr3727.r325 2015
828(cid:2).509–dc23 2015005504
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For Marjorie Perloff, with love

Contents
Acknowledgements pageix
Listofabbreviations xi
Introduction 1
part i: the legacy of ATALEOFATUB
1 Thetypographicalego-tripfrom‘Dryden’
toPrufrock 11
part ii: swift and others
2 MandevilleandSwift 51
3 Thesleepofthedunces 70
4 Pope,thecoupletandJohnson 95
5 Intimaciesofantipathy:JohnsonandSwift 119
6 Anunclubbablelife:SirJohnHawkinsonJohnson
(andSwift) 148
7 Coolingtoagypsy’slust:Johnson,Shakespeare
andCleopatra 159
8 Gibbon,Swiftandirony 183
9 ‘Theamorouseffectof“brass”’:Showing,tellingand
moneyinEmma 205
vii
viii Contents
part iii: three occasional pieces
10 Thesoftwantongod:Rochester 229
11 WilliamCongreve 242
12 Unparodyingandforgery:TheAugustanChatterton 252
Notes 268
Index 294