A Modest Proposal
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Description
Swift's devastating short satire on how to solve a famine
Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). Swift's works available in Penguin Classics are Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal and Other Writings.
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An interesting look at early satire with 5 writings revealing issues of Ireland in the 18th century. As a modern reader, I would have appreciated some historical context, since I probably missed a lot of what he criticized and was trying to convey due to not being an expert of that time period. Still it was worth taking a look at.
If Gen Z worked time travel out, this essay is something I could absolutely see them publish. In short: it is absolutely exaggerated, bordering on unthinkable what Swift proposes in terms of how to solve the problem of an incredibly impoverished Irish population as immediate after effect of exploitation of Ireland at the hands of England. Still, it is in the absurdness of it all, disguised by the tone of an economical treatise in terms of seriousness and tonality, where lies the thinly veiled criticism of a system and whole classes who forget about the humanity of others. The satirical aspect of this is unexpectedly taken to a level that no reader might have imagined and proves the point of a society that left the most vulnerable to die in poverty even if the means had been there to save them all along. Very powerful piece of literature and the most impressive, satirical essay I’ve read of this period so far. Absolutely savage in every sense of the word.
Description
Swift's devastating short satire on how to solve a famine
Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). Swift's works available in Penguin Classics are Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal and Other Writings.
Book Information
Posts
An interesting look at early satire with 5 writings revealing issues of Ireland in the 18th century. As a modern reader, I would have appreciated some historical context, since I probably missed a lot of what he criticized and was trying to convey due to not being an expert of that time period. Still it was worth taking a look at.
If Gen Z worked time travel out, this essay is something I could absolutely see them publish. In short: it is absolutely exaggerated, bordering on unthinkable what Swift proposes in terms of how to solve the problem of an incredibly impoverished Irish population as immediate after effect of exploitation of Ireland at the hands of England. Still, it is in the absurdness of it all, disguised by the tone of an economical treatise in terms of seriousness and tonality, where lies the thinly veiled criticism of a system and whole classes who forget about the humanity of others. The satirical aspect of this is unexpectedly taken to a level that no reader might have imagined and proves the point of a society that left the most vulnerable to die in poverty even if the means had been there to save them all along. Very powerful piece of literature and the most impressive, satirical essay I’ve read of this period so far. Absolutely savage in every sense of the word.