Jonathan Swift, a hypocrite reversed: a critical biography / David Nokes

Nokes, David

ISBN 10: 0198128347 / ISBN 13: 9780198128342

Editore: Oxford [Oxfordshire]; New York: Oxford University Press, 1985

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Very good cloth copy in a good if somewhat edge-nicked and dust-dulled dust wrapper, now mylar-sleeved. Remains quite well-preserved overall. Physical description: xix, 427 pages, 8 pages of plates: illustrations, portraits; 23 cm. Contents: The conjured spirit -- First fruits -- The life of a spider -- The Dean and the Drapier -- The isle of slaves. Summary: It is the aim of this biography to offer a new, comprehensive view of Swift and his writings. For years, biographies of the Dean were bedeviled by legends of his madness and by romantic mysteries surrounding his relationship. Post-war scholarship has swept all this away, and has provided a factual basis for a much clearer understanding of both his life and work. Dr. Nokes presents a portrait of Swift in his multifarious roles as satirist, politician, churchman, and friend. In particular, he seeks to re-establish a proper balance between Swift's public and private lives. Subjects: Swift, Jonathan 1667-1745. Swift, Jonathan 1667-1745; Biography. Church of Ireland Clergy; Biography. Church of Ireland. Authors, Irish 18th century; Biography. Satirists, Irish; Biography. Genre: Biography. Illustrated. 1 Kg.

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Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: Jonathan Swift, a hypocrite reversed: a critical biography / David Nokes
• Editore: Oxford [Oxfordshire]; New York: Oxford University Press
• Data di pubblicazione: 1985
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0198128347
• ISBN 13: 9780198128342
• Rilegatura: Rilegato
• Edizione: 1st Edition.
• Condizione della sovraccoperta: sovraccoperta

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

There has long been a need for an accessible, comprehensive--and affordable--single-volume life of Swift. This thoughtful, judicious biography promises to fill that need for our generation.
Few author's reputations have fluctuated as wildly as Jonathan Swift's. From the beginning, critics and biographers divided into two camps--one hailing a champion of liberty, the other reviling a sadistic misanthrope. For years, moreover, an understanding of Swift's life was clouded by legends of his madness and mysteries surrounding his romantic attachments. Modern scholarship had swept all of this away, however, giving us a much sounder factual basis for comprehending the man's life and work.
David Nokes portrays the author of Gulliver's Travels in his multifarious roles as satirist, politician, churchman, and friend. Combining the latest findings of Swiftian scholarship with an astute critical eye, he restores a proper balance between the specialist critics who have overemphasized specific themes or genres in Swift's work and the generalist critics who have missed many of the particularities of Swift's ironies. In so doing, Nokes gives us a biography very much in the spirit Swift himself endorsed: "a conservative humanism which saw specialisation as a first dangerous step towards that distorted simplification of complex human phenomena which characterized the views of all factions and fanatics."
About the Author:
David Nokes is Lecturer in English at King's College, the University of London.

Product Description

Book by Nokes David