Briefly about the article: Jonathan Swift is a public figure, satirist and publicist, author of a number of literary works, the most famous of which is Gulliver's Travels. It was it that became the basis for most of the film adaptations that came out in the 20th century and continue to appear to this day.

Discoverer of countries that are not on the map

Jonathan Swift

As a matter of fact, very few live for today. Most are preparing to live later.
Jonathan Swift

When Jonathan Swift created Gulliver's Travels, he hardly guessed that after a couple of centuries his sharply political and topical work would take a place on the shelf next to children's books. With even less probability, the author could assume that his novels would become the basis for many adaptations and the public would be able to see distant countries that are not on any map of the world: kingdoms where midgets and giants live, intelligent horses and other unusual creatures. Movies and television have proven that these amazing places really exist.

Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin in 1667. The father died seven months before the birth of his son, so the uncle was mainly involved in the upbringing. The boy first studied at the prestigious Kilkeny school, and then at Trinity College, Dublin University. While still a student, Swift began to try his hand at literature as a poet and satirist. Later he wrote the pamphlets Battlebooks and Tale of the Barrel, which were published only in 1704.

After receiving his bachelor's degree, Swift worked as a secretary for William Temple, a former diplomat and noted essayist. Temple noticed the outstanding literary talents of the young man, giving Swift the opportunity to use his rich library. Meetings, conversations and disputes in the diplomat's house became a mine of information for the observant Swift. He learned a lot about social customs, about political battles and religious disputes of that time.

England at the beginning of the 18th century was a seething cauldron, and therefore Swift's talent as a satirical pamphleteer came in handy. In 1726-1727, four volumes of Gulliver's Travels were published, in which the author ridiculed the vices of modern society. Swift used fantastical elements to show how far conceit, worship of pseudoscientific ideas, and pride can go.

In a short time, these works were republished many times, and in subsequent years translated into other languages. Gulliver's Travels soon found a second life, numerous imitations and sequels appeared. The most unusual was the transformation of political pamphlets into exciting adventure books for children, which formed the basis of most film adaptations and television shows. Probably, this was another talent of Swift - to make his works understandable to any audience, adaptable to all languages, including the language of cinema.

FIRST ON SCREEN

The first film adaptation of Swift's work was a short film by Georges Méliès, filmed in 1902. It was called "Gulliver's Journey to the Land of Lilliputians and to the Land of Giants." For four minutes, viewers could see only a few scenes that were not related to a common plot. Swift's work gave the author the opportunity to demonstrate unusual special effects - Gulliver's neighborhoods with small midgets and huge giants in one frame. When looking at the eyes, another feature was striking - color. The black and white picture was hand-colored, which looked quite unusual, and at that time - generally innovative.

In 1903, a film adaptation called "Gulliver in the Land of the Giants" was released, filmed by the Spanish director Segundo de Chamon. It was a short black-and-white film that told about the second journey of Gulliver, who ended up in the land of giants.

After only 6 years, the famous director Emil Kol released an animated short film "Monsieur the Clown at the Lilliputians", in which he showed the performance of little men in the arena. These were numbers with grimacing clowns, a tightrope walker, a trained dog and elephants.

In 1914, the film "The Kingdom of the Dwarfs of Lilliput against the Kingdom of the Giants" was released. According to the scenario of the picture in France, they discover that a conflict has begun between little midgets and giants. It was an unambiguous allusion to the old opponents of the French Republic - the Germans.

The first films about the adventures of Gulliver can hardly be called adaptations of the works of Jonathan Swift. Rather, they were free interpretations, in which the visuals and the desire of the authors to demonstrate how fictional characters - Gulliver, midgets and giants - can come to life with the help of movie magic.

MOVIE MAGIC

After the first experiments, the filmmakers briefly forgot about the adventures of the ship's doctor Lemuel Gulliver. Only since the 1920s did fantastic stories about midgets and giants return to the big screens.

In 1923, the French Albert Murla and Raymond Ville released a 22-minute animated film Gulliver at the Lilliputians. The plot of the cartoon is canonical: after a storm, the hero finds himself on a deserted shore, where he is captured by little people.

In 1934, Walt Disney Studios released the cartoon "Gulliver Mickey". According to the plot, the mouse Mickey, having read Swift's books, decides to tell the noisy kids his story about the country where tiny people live. The authors made an unexpected move, turning baby Mickey into a giant. The tired hero, having got out of the depths of the sea, falls asleep right on the shore, and wakes up already tied to the ground by the locals. Swift's book has become only a backdrop for the adventures of a resilient little mouse. There is nothing outstanding in this nine-minute short film, but young children liked it for its naivete, simplicity and special charm that distinguishes the animated films of that distant era.

Unlike overseas colleagues, the famous Soviet storyteller - director Alexander Ptushko - approached the film adaptation of Swift with greater thoroughness. His painting "The New Gulliver" in 1935 still impresses with its high craftsmanship and unusual visuals. Created as a fairy tale for children and "agitation" for adults of the Soviet Union, it has outlived its time and to this day remains in many ways an unsurpassed masterpiece, which combines puppet animation and filming of live actors.

The next film adaptation of Gulliver's Travels was directed by Dave Fleischer. In the 1930s, the brothers Dave and Max Fleischer were creating short cartoons about the adventures of the sailor Popeye. Following the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Paramount gave Dave the green light to make a feature-length cartoon. In 1939, the film "Gulliver's Travels" was released, the script of which only in general terms followed the plot of Swift's book. After the shipwreck, the hero is taken to the shore, where the locals notice him, and while the giant is sleeping, they are transported on a huge wagon to the capital. Then Gulliver's adventures in the country of the Lilliputians begin, participation in the war, an attempt to reconcile the warring parties, help the prince and princess in love. Fleischer's tape is not without moralizing, but this did not prevent her from achieving success with the public thanks to an exciting plot, juicy, colorful picture and a wonderful sound range.

The main character of the cartoon was created using rotoscoping technology. First, scenes were filmed with a live actor who portrayed Gulliver, and only then the animators superimposed drawn frames on top. Therefore, in the film, the movements of the Lilliputians look like ordinary animation, and Gulliver - like a living person. The picture could receive two Oscars in the nominations “Best Song” and “Best Soundtrack”, but that year the film “The Wizard of Oz” ruled the ball, to which the gold figurines went.

In the 1930s, Soviet cinema flourished, which had previously been officially recognized as the most important of the arts. It was then that many classic films appeared on the screens, and among them the picture "New Gulliver". The director of the film, Alexander Ptushko, captured the essence of Swift's work, and successfully modernized the political satire of the 18th century. Pioneer Petya Konstantinov ends up in Lilliput, where the arbitrariness of the rich reigns. The hero cannot stand aside and soon joins the rebellious workers.

In the Lilliput of the "New Gulliver" one can easily recognize the features of the countries of "decaying capitalism" with puppet emperors and all-powerful police chiefs, yellow press and corrupt parliamentarians, disenfranchised workers and fattening bourgeois.

The combination of 3D animation, hundreds of puppet figures and the performance of a live actor still arouses admiration. The dolls, designed by production designer Sarah Mokkil and created by sculptor Olga Tayozhnaya, turned out to be truly alive. Unlike the army of faceless workers, negative characters have individuality and unique charm. Many phrases from the film went to the people, and the song "Moyaliliputochka" became a hit.

Speaking about the film adaptations of the great Irish satirist, one must definitely mention the film by Mark Zakharov "The House That Swift Built" - one of the smartest, most complex and bitter films of both the director and the entire national cinema. The protagonist of the film is Dean Swift himself, a master of minds, a misanthrope and a hermit. And a strange masquerade is going on around, the dean's house is full of either invited guests, or actors playing imposed roles.

The environment is shown through the eyes of Dr. Simpson, a doctor sent to cure the dean of a mental disorder. At first, it is obvious to the doctor that what is happening is a hoax directed against Swift, but at some point the actors turn into the most real heroes of Swift's books, and Dr. Simpson himself discovers that his name is none other than Lemuel Gulliver. But the question of whether fiction, even if it has become reality, can at least change something for the better, remains unanswered. And given that the roles in the film are played by Oleg Yankovsky and Alexander Abdulov, Evgeny Leonov and Alexander Zbruev, Alexandra Zakharova and Nikolai Karachentsev, Semyon Farada and Vladimir Belousov, the film can hardly be called anything other than a masterpiece.

The American company Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1968 released the TV series Gulliver's Adventures. Boy Harry Gulliver, together with his father and dog Tag, goes in search of treasure. On the way to the island, the ship of heroes gets into a storm, and the boy is carried away to the sea. Harry and Tag end up on an island where midgets live. At first, the locals are not eager to see uninvited guests within their kingdom, but then distrust is replaced by strong friendship.

This is not the most famous project of Hanna-BarberaProduction. More popular at that time were the series: The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, The Jetsons. But here, too, the authors have managed to create a very nice, exciting, and sometimes dramatic series. True, nothing remains of the work of Swift in the cartoon. Gulliver hunts for treasure, fights Vikings, escapes dinosaurs and, of course, searches for his missing father. The comments of the characters look naive. If danger is approaching, the characters will shout "We must run away!" If someone is in trouble: "We must save him." Everything is very simple and predictable.

AS FROM THE HORN OF Plenty

After the explosion of interest in Swift's books, film studios for a long time forgot about them. Only in 1960 was the film "Lilliputians and Giants" released, which was originally called "Three Worlds of Gulliver". In this film, the hero went on a long voyage, and not alone, but with a girlfriend (who secretly made her way onto the ship). Gulliver visited midgets and giants, and then returned safely to England, where he was finally able to make peace with his beloved. By this time, the technology of combined filming was well established, and therefore could not surprise the audience, but the riot of colors and an entertaining plot made the film ideal for a children's audience.

Since 1965, British television has been broadcasting the Jackanori program, in which guest actors and just famous people read excerpts from favorite children's books, including the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, Uncle Remus, Roald Dahl, Beatrix Potter and, of course, Jonathan Swift. In 1966, as part of the program, four stories about Gulliver sounded - “The Beginning of the Journey”, “Trouble in Lilliput”, “Lost in Brobdingnag”, “Isle of Horses”, which were read by the famous comedian Alfred Marx. The project was designed primarily for a youthful audience and to popularize reading books among listeners.

In 1965, Japanese director Yoshio Kuroda released a full-length fantasy cartoon Gulliver's Adventures. This time, the elderly traveler, along with a tramp boy named Ted, a dog, Mack, and a clockwork soldier, went to explore outer space. What immediately catches your eye when viewing is a rather primitive video sequence. At present, this cartoon will be of interest to those who love Japanese animation, which was then in search of its own unique style. They will also be interested to know that young Hayao Miyazaki worked on the film.

In 1974, director Andras Rajnay staged a children's costumed dance performance for Hungarian television. And here Gulliver again visited the country of the Lilliputians (who were played by children) and reconciled the warring kingdoms of little people. Six years later, András Rajnay made another television production of Gulliver's Adventures for Hungarian Television, this time sending the adventurer to Brobdingnag.

The next adaptation of Gulliver's Adventures, created by English director Peter R. Hunt, was released in 1977. Richard Harris (Professor Dumbledore from the first Harry Potter films) played the main role in it. It was a full-length film in which the scenery of Lilliput (houses, palaces, the surrounding area) were created in the form of a layout, the inhabitants were drawn by animators, and Gulliver was played by a live actor. Nothing out of the ordinary, apart from the fact that the serious Richard Harris successfully pretended to talk to living characters, clumsily stepped over small buildings and fiddled with toy boats in a pond.

In 1979, an hour-long animated film Gulliver's Travels was released on CBS as part of the Outstanding Classic Stories project. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Australia, a regional arm of the American company Hanna-Barbera Productions, the film is another adaptation of Swift's book aimed at children and young adults. This is a mediocre tape, in which not too good drawing of the characters and their movements, simple music and boring dialogues are noticeable. The purpose of the television project is to acquaint viewers with the classic literary works of the past.

Passage paintings based on the books of Jonathan Swift appeared frequently during these years. For example, the 1982 BBC costumed television mini-series Gulliver in Lilliput, directed by Bury Letts. Or the full-length cartoon "Gulliver's Travels" by the Spaniard Palomo Cruz Delgado, released in 1983. Now, hardly anyone will remember these films even among moviegoers and devoted fans of the English writer's work. In 1988, the famous French director Jean-Pierre Mocchi decided to pay tribute to George Méliès. So, almost a century later, the short film “Méliès 88: Gulliver” appeared, created specifically for television.

Canadian director Bruno Bianchi slightly changed the image of the hero Swift. In the 1992 TV series Gulliver's Travels, the main character is a scientist who surfs the seas in search of new knowledge. One day, fate brings him to Lilliput. The newcomer is quickly accustomed to the new environment and even helps the Liputians in the war with the neighboring state. Everything is going well until the moment when Gulliver realizes that he is fighting against his friend Raphael. Soon, the comrades leave the kingdom of little people and go in search of new adventures. Primitive graphics, angular figures of characters did not give the project a chance to win the hearts of boys and girls, as well as their parents.

Charles Sturridge, the director of the television film Gulliver's Travels, approached the film adaptation of Swift's work much more thoroughly. The picture was released in 1996 and is still considered one of the most successful film adaptations.

In recent years, interest in the works of Swift has crossed all conceivable and unthinkable limits. In 1999, Gulliver's Travels was staged for US National Public Radio. In 2000, the Frenchman Brice Revenis made a short film of the same name based on Swift's pamphlet "A Modest Proposal" at the intersection of comedy and horror genres. Five years later, A Modest Proposal was again filmed, only now in the United States by director Sam Frazier. In 2007 and 2008, respectively, two theatrical performances about the adventures of Gulliver appeared.

But this is not the end yet. Very soon, a new film "Gulliver's Travels" with Jack Black in the title role will be released on the screens. Adventures in countries that are not on the map continue.

Lemuel Gulliver, after a long wandering, returns home, but even here there is no peace in his soul. He continues to dream about distant lands, sharing stories about his unusual adventures with others. Not everyone believes Gulliver - his stories about dwarfs or giants, scientists and intelligent horses seem too fantastic.

In three hours of screen time, the creators fit several of Gulliver's travels. Spectators were given the opportunity to see not only Lilliput and Brobdingnag, but also Laputa floating in the air, and the country of the Houyhnhnms.

The film turned out to be dynamic, dramatic and kind. The director as a whole was able to preserve the spirit of the original source and fill the picture with a new meaning, understandable to any audience. The main and episodic roles (among which there are many well-known actors), costumes and special effects, dialogues and musical design create an atmosphere of a fairy tale, dark at times, but overall very nice and interesting.

SWIFT (Swift) Jonathan(1667-1745), English writer and politician. In the pamphlet "The Tale of the Barrel" (1704), the struggle between the Catholic, Anglican and Puritan churches is depicted in the spirit of a parodic "life". The pamphlets The Clothmaker's Letters (1723-24) and A Modest Proposal (1729) denounce the oppression of the Irish people. "Gulliver's Travels" (vols. 1-2, 1726). Swift's bilious satire is inseparable from the humanistic pathos of his work, which developed in line with the Enlightenment, which affirmed the need to eradicate private and public vices. The traditions of Swift's satire are among the most fruitful in world literature.
Childhood. At Trinity College
His grandfather, a prominent clergyman of the Anglican Church and a staunch supporter of King Charles I Stuart, during the civil wars of 1641-1648 was dispossessed by the revolutionary regime of Cromwell. Swift's father, having married a dowry, went to seek his fortune in semi-colonial Ireland, where he got a job as a judicial official and died six months before the birth of his son. The orphan was brought up by wealthy relatives. With their help, he received a decent school education and entered the prestigious Trinity College of Dublin University, where he studied in 1682-1688, by his own later admission, rather casually, that is, enthusiastically read a wide variety of books to the detriment of the prescribed cramming of the rhetorical-theological-philosophical manuals of Burgersdicius , Kekkermannus and Smiglecius. However, apparently, even then he felt a priestly vocation and firmly decided to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, which was in no way contradicted by his revealed propensity for literary writing.
The first compositions of the twenty-two-year-old Swift were, in the fashion of that time, sublime odes, and they clearly showed genuine and thorough religiosity, severe piety and a deep disgust for all revolutionary transformations and innovations, especially in the spiritual field.
At Temple Manor
The Irish riots of 1688-1689 prevented him from completing his teaching: he had to move to England, and Swift accepted the priesthood only in 1695, and received a doctorate in theology from Oxford in 1701. But the “intermediate” in his life the 1690s. turned out to be decisive for the formation of his personality and writing gift. These years mostly passed in the luxurious manor of Moore Park near London, a distant relative of Swift's mother, a retired diplomat and courtier, a prominent thinker and essayist of the 1660s-1680s. Sir William Temple, who at first, out of mercy, took a poor youth as a librarian, then appreciated his talents and brought him closer to himself as a secretary and confidant. Swift, an indefatigable reader, had at his disposal a rich collection of books, especially French ones; and Rabelais, Montaigne, La Rochefoucauld became his favorite authors. Appreciated Swift and his patron; he recognized the only one as his mentor, however, only in terms of sanity, outlook, balance and thoughtfulness of judgments. Their opinions could differ radically, for example, in a religious sense: Temple was a more or less free-thinking deist, and Swift considered any religious inquisitiveness a product of thoughtlessness or pride. The difference in outlook and temperament, however, almost did not prevent them from getting along with each other. The decade spent at the Temple estate, Swift called the happiest time of his life.
Pamphlet "The Battle of the Books"
After Temple's death, Swift had to rely on himself for the first time; in his asset was developed with the assistance of an older friend and mentor his own life and ideological position. In addition, the nature of his literary talent was clearly defined: speaking on the side of Temple in the literary polemic on the comparative merits of ancient and modern literature with the pamphlet The Battle of the Books (1697), Swift showed himself to be a devastating polemicist, a master of parodic style and deadly irony. The pamphlet is a caustic denunciation of the then (mainly French) literary modernism and the spiritual innovation that Swift hated.
Satirical Encyclopedia
In 1700, Swift received a parish in Ireland, but all his calculations and expectations were connected with big politics, to which he was introduced by the connoisseur of political life Temple, and with the literary activities of the London rulers of minds. To their captious and exacting judgment, he was going to present not only the still unpublished "Battle of the Books", but also a kind of satirical encyclopedia of English mental life of the late 17th century - "The Tale of the Barrel", on which, however, it was still worth working and for which it was necessary to prepare soil, acquire at least some name and reputation. Events turned out favorably: the Tories overcame the Whigs, having achieved a majority in the House of Commons and using populist demagogy with might and main. Conservative principles were much closer to Swift than liberal ones, but any populism was deeply suspicious to him. He noted with alarm that in ancient times “freedom was destroyed in the same way,” and immediately wrote a treatise “Discourse on the contentions and disagreements between the nobility and communities in Athens and Rome” (1701), where he strictly and intelligibly analyzed the party swara as a symptom of the advent of democratic tyranny, which is no better than aristocratic tyranny. The treatise greatly influenced public opinion and greatly contributed to the victory of the Whigs in the next parliamentary elections; Swift, thus, became the favorite of the ruling party, its "golden pen", and in 1705, finally, he considered it appropriate to publish "The Tale of the Barrel" along with the "Battle of the Books".
Recognized Master
The book was noticed by everyone and determined the further reputation of Doctor of Divinity Swift, causing some deep admiration for his merciless and inexhaustible wit, others (including the pious Queen Anne who took the English throne) - horror and anger with his irreverent approach to religious affairs. For the plot basis of the “Tale” was a parable-like fable about three brothers, more or less personifying Catholicism, Anglicanism and extreme Protestantism, who failed to keep safe and sound the caftans bequeathed to them suitable for all occasions, that is, the Christian dogma. The allegory is deliberately stupid, suitable for clownish games with dressing up. It makes up hardly a quarter of the "Tale" and is used as an illustration to other chapters, together with them representing a kind of English analogue of Erasmus of Rotterdam's "Praise of Folly" so beloved by Swift. In Swift, the embodiment of the all-powerful Stupidity is the fake “Author” of the “Tale”, a corrupt hack who contracted to build something like a program of the coming general insanity, designed to replace the true reality with an illusory and partly utopian one. The 18th century was the age of utopias turning from dreams into projects of social reconstruction, and Swift mockingly anticipates the ideology of the Enlightenment with its "social contract", social projecting and the cult of mechanistic materialism.
Contemporaries appreciated Swift's wit more than the richness of his Tale. He was recognized as a special kind of primacy in literature, and he consolidated it with such anti-ideological writings adjacent to The Tale of the Barrel as the Tritic Treatise on Mental Abilities (1707) and The Objection to the Abolition of Christianity (1708). Salon glory was brought to him by the parodic preaching “Reflection on a Broomstick” (1707), where he warns “the great reformers of the world”, “correcters of evil” and “eliminators of all offenses” against presumptuous reformism, which can only defile the world.
Another verbal mask of the ideologist and figure of the new time was created by Swift in the person of the learned gentleman astrologer Isaac Bickerstaff, who, in the name of science and in the name of the public good, abolishes the present and controls the future, clearly showing the power of propaganda over reality. His only scientific Predictions for 1708 were published; then these predictions were verified with the help of the printed word and became irrefutable facts of public life. Later ideologists liked to call such facts "stubborn things". Bickerstaff fell in love with Swift's then friends and the pioneers of European journalism J. Addison and R. Style. One of the first English magazines was called "Tatler" ("Chatterbox") and was published on behalf of "Mr. Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.", who soon acquired a biography and became a parody character in English literature.
Politician and publicist
Soon Swift himself had to brilliantly demonstrate in various ways the power of the printed word as an instrument of politics and its impotence as a means of explanation or admonition. Relations with the Whigs completely went wrong after Swift bluntly expressed his moderately protective views in the pamphlet "Considerations of an English Churchman Concerning Religion and Government" (1709). And when the Tory government in 1710-1714 went to meet the demands of church circles and, moreover, set out to honorably lead England out of the protracted and senseless, albeit victorious, war for the Spanish Succession, Swift became close and even made friends with leading conservatives. He became their chief publicist, and all the political successes of the conservative government were achieved thanks to Swift's pamphlets and the journal The Examiner (1710-1711) led by him, which formed a favorable public opinion for making peace. In this regard, Swift lived in London in 1710-1713, and his daily letters-reports to Ireland to the former pupil of the Temple, Esther Johnson, were published half a century later and had a huge success as an epistolary novel, Diary for Stella.
Inventive patriot of Ireland
In 1714, the patroness of the Conservatives, Queen Anne Stuart, died, and the Tory leaders, friends of Swift, were accused of high treason, and they managed to arrange him in advance as rector (dean) of the Cathedral of St. Patrick in Dublin, so that he found himself in some kind of honorable exile, in one of the most prominent ecclesiastical positions in Ireland. Having quickly and thoroughly understood Irish affairs, Swift publicly declared Ireland to be the land of slavery and poverty; he considered the slavish state and especially the slavish obedience of the local inhabitants to be incompatible with human dignity; they stung his pastoral conscience. As early as 1720, in his pamphlet A Proposal for the General Use of Irish Manufactory, he called for a boycott of all English "wearables." His call was not heeded, and the pamphlet (of course, anonymous) was declared "outrageous, divisive and dangerous", and the printer was put on trial. The jury, however, acquitted him, and Swift took note of this. He reasoned that it would be most effective to boycott English money by declaring it fake; and the opportunity for it soon presented itself. In England, a patent was issued for minting a small copper coin for Ireland. The patent was lucrative, though not at all fraudulent, but Swift, a scholar of propaganda demagogy, was well aware that it was impossible to prove the absence of fraud in such a ticklish, affecting all pockets case. It remained to choose a mask suitable for agitation; and in February 1724 the first letter of "M.B., the Clothmaker" appeared, where "merchants, shopkeepers, farmers and all the common people of the kingdom of Ireland" en masse mobilized to fight the English copper coin, and in fact with England. Five more letters appeared in the next year and a half, and their tone became more and more outrageous, and their appeals more and more menacing; to make them more effective, Swift did not leave the role of a commoner. All Ireland was seething; a popular uprising was about to break out, and the usually submissive Irish parliament was ready to lead it, and Swift prepared a program for it. But at the decisive moment, the British Prime Minister thought it best to give in: he simply canceled the patent, and the tension subsided. "Draper" won; Swift was defeated.
Probably, the bitterness of this defeat nourished his bitterest pamphlet, filled with unbearable contempt for human slavery, “A Modest Proposal” (1729), where “for the good of the fatherland, the development of trade and the alleviation of the lot of the poor”, a beneficent, economically and gastronomically developed project of eating the children of the Irish the poor; it is this way of solving Irish social problems that the good-natured author considers the most practical, feasible and in keeping with the spirit of the times.
Main work
The “Letters of M.B., the Clothmaker” did not become a manifesto of Irish freedom, but were preserved in the history of English literature as a speech portrait of an Anglo-Irish commoner of the early 18th century - all the more masterful because Dean Swift had nothing to do with his character, as, indeed , and with the hero of his main work, Lemuel Gulliver, emerging from oblivion, "first a ship's doctor, and then the captain of several ships." From the beginning of the 1720s. references to "my travels" appear in Swift's letters; in November 1726 a volume was published in London containing a "condensed description" of the first two of them. The second volume, describing the third and fourth journeys, was published in February 1727.
The description of actual and imaginary journeys and the discoveries accompanying them has been one of the leading European literary genres since the beginning of the 16th century. Using it, Swift placed his work on a par with Thomas More's "Utopia", with F. Rabelais's "Gargantua and Pantagruel", with the most popular and most religious book of the 17th century, "The Pilgrim's Way" by John Bunyan, as well as with the published in 1719 "Robinson Crusoe" by D. Defoe, the most optimistic work of the new time, in meaning and pathos directly opposite to "Gulliver's Travels".
Their plot, like in The Tale of the Barrel, was bogus, parodic: Swift, unlike a great many utopians, dreamers and inventors, did not discover new countries, but returned the reader to the amazing reality of his daily existence, forcing him to look at himself and the world around him. with new eyes and produce a sober moral (that is, primarily religious) self-assessment.
monstrous and normal
Gulliver's Travels is Swift's final book, where his rich life and creative experience is fantastically allegorically refracted - so that almost every episode of the story looks like a parable. This is also facilitated by Swift's favorite image technique - everyday grotesque, that is, revealing the strangeness and monstrosity of everyday life and everyday consciousness. Normal and monstrous are constantly changing places: in the realms of midgets and giants, this is achieved by playing with a perception scale of 12:1:12. This ratio of sizes makes it possible to show in the first two parts the insignificance of big politics and the grandeur of human life as clearly as possible. The third part is entirely phantasmagoric - a compendium of dreams come true of mankind, armed with science, the triumph of insane projecting that the Author of "The Tale of the Barrel" dreamed about. This is the first technocratic dystopia in the history of European literature.
The main idea of ​​the fourth part
Finally, in the fourth part, a “natural man” appears in the Land of Horses, whom Rousseau will glorify in half a century - and in his natural state, deprived of faith and grace, he turns out to be the most disgusting of cattle, who should only be in slavery to horses; along the way, it turns out that an ideal social structure is possible only apart from man. Imbued with the idea of ​​such improvement, Lemuel Gulliver renounces humanity and becomes a hanger-on in the stable. This slightly convoluted sermon against the mortal sin of human pride was taken for granted by contemporaries; but during the period of the triumph of enlightenment humanism, it caused a lot of criticism.
"Stubborn defender of courageous freedom"
"Gulliver's Travels" glorified Swift throughout Europe, but until the end of his days he remained an Irish exile, about whom the local governor said: "I rule Ireland with the permission of Dean Swift." Among his last works, mostly repeating previous themes and motifs, stand out the unfinished "Instructions to the Servants", parodying Machiavelli's "Sovereign" on everyday material, and "A Serious and Useful Project for a Shelter for the Incurable" (1733) - an essay in the spirit of "Modest Proposal ". "Poems on the death of Dr. Swift" he wrote in advance, in 1731; in his epitaph, he wished to remain in the memory of posterity as a "stubborn defender of courageous freedom" and spoke of the "cruel indignation" that "tormented his heart." This indignation was not sufficiently moderated by mercy; but it was directed not against people, but mainly against the violation of human freedom. A deeply and firmly religious clergyman, a champion of militant common sense, overshadowed by the Christian religion, Swift opposed the idealization of man, which foreshadowed his new enslavement, and especially the plans for universal social improvement, which, as he foresaw, could only lead to the omnipotence of madness and universal slavery. The pathos of his life and work is fully conveyed by the words of the Apostle Paul from the Epistle to the Ephesians (6:12), which Swift liked to repeat: “Our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against authorities, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spirits of evil heavenly."

Swift began his creative activity at the turn of the two centuries, when the extremely diverse experience of English literature of the 17th century. began to be rethought in the light of emerging enlightenment ideas.

Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) was born and educated in Ireland. The tense political situation in Dublin, caused by the deposition of James II (1688) and his attempt to regain power, relying on his Irish supporters (1689), forced Swift, like many other Englishmen of his circle, to leave Ireland for England. There, Swift entered the service of a secretary to his distant relative William Temple, an essayist, statesman and diplomat. Following family tradition, Swift took the rank of an Anglican priest and received a parish in Ireland (1694), but his thoughts were attracted by literary activity, represented in the history of the family by the famous names of Davenant and Dryden.

Under the influence of the writer-essayist Temple, the foundations of Swift's worldview were formed. In philosophical and religious questions, he shared Montaigne's skepticism in the Anglican interpretation, emphasizing the weakness, limitations and deceptiveness of the human mind; his ethical teaching was reduced to Anglican rationalism with the requirement of strict ordering of feelings, their subordination to common sense; at the heart of his historical ideas was the idea of ​​historical variability, based on the late Renaissance teachings about the "circulation of various forms of government."

Except for Swift's initial insignificant poetic experiments, the first period of his work opens with a work that has become a masterpiece of English literature - "The Tale of the Barrel" and the "Battle of the Books" adjoining it and "Discourse on the mechanical action of the spirit." They were published in 1704 in a book with a single title, but the final text did not appear until the fifth edition (1710). At first, the reader gets the impression of a chaotic narrative. This impression is reinforced by the fact that the title uses an idiom (“barrel tale” in English then also meant “all sorts of things”, “mixture”), and is reinforced by the presence of numerous digressions in the text. However, the external dispersion of the narrative, reminiscent of examples of baroque satire, is opposed by the internal, classically symmetrical order of the composition.

Swift's book was created in two stages - in 1695-1696 and 1701-1702. - and had as its goal to satirically denounce "a lot of gross perversions in religion and learning." The basis of the narrative of "The Tale of the Barrel" is "an allegorical story about caftans and three brothers", the plot going back to the popular parable of the three rings, processed in Boccaccio's "Decameron" and other sources. Swift uses the plot of his allegory to allegorically convey the ritual history of Christianity from its inception until the end of the 17th century. Dying, a certain father (Christ) left the same caftans (religion) and a will (the Bible) with “the most detailed instructions on how to wear caftans and keep them in order” as a legacy to his three sons. For the first seven years (centuries), the three brothers - they still do not differ in names - "piously observed their father's will", but then, succumbing to the charms of the Duchess d'Argent (Covetousness), Madame de Grands Titres (Ambition) and the Countess d'Orgueil ( Pride), the brothers wished to change the appearance of the caftans in accordance with fashion. The first to succeed was one of them, who received the name of Peter (the symbol of the papacy). Peter achieved his goal in two ways: with the help of ingeniously arbitrary interpretations of the will and through references to oral tradition. In the end, he completely took possession of the testament, in behavior and sermons he ceased to reckon with common sense, and he treated the brothers so much that they went with him to the “great break” (Reformation). With the will in their hands, Jack and Martin (the names of the leaders of the Reformation, John Calvin and Martin Luther) were filled with a desire to fulfill the precepts of their father and remove jewelry from their caftans. However, "a sharp difference in their characters was immediately revealed." Martin - the symbol of the Church of England - "first put his hand" to his caftan, but "after several vigorous movements" he paused and "decided to act more prudently in the future", in accordance with common sense. Jack, on the other hand, is a symbol of Puritanism, having given vent to the feelings that he “began to dignify with zeal”, “tore his entire caftan from top to bottom”, embarked on the path of “extraordinary adventures” and became the founder of the “eolists” sect (a parody of the Puritans).

The narration of "The Tale" is deliberately reduced, everyday, and often Rabelaisian obscene, emphasizing its grotesque-parody orientation against the background of allegorical and symbolic content. Such, for example, is the story of the brothers' joint adventures (they "drank, fought, debauched, cursed and sniffed tobacco"). The central section of "Tales of the barrel" "Digression regarding the origin, usefulness and success of madness in human society." The object of Swift's satire, according to his definition, is "the absurdities of fanaticism and superstition", and, as textual studies of the Tale of the Barrel have shown, criticism is directed against Catholics, Puritans, followers of Hobbes' materialism and is conducted from the standpoint of Anglican rationalism. Thus, Swift had the right to argue that from his book it is impossible "to conscientiously derive even one statement that is contrary to religion or morality." It is known, however, that for many generations of readers, since the era of the French Enlightenment, The Tale of the Barrel has symbolized the struggle against religious fanaticism in any of its forms. This is recorded in the famous statement of Voltaire about the “Tale of the barrel”: “Swift’s rods are so long that they hurt not only sons, but the father himself (Christianity).”

With its first readers, the book, entitled The Tale of the Barrel, was a resounding success. But the name of its author remained undisclosed for some time, although by this time he had already gained fame in the literary circles of London thanks to the works of historical journalism.

Such is the pamphlet Discourse on the Strife and Differences between the Nobility and Communities in Athens and Rome (1701). In it, Swift outlined his understanding of the political ideas of the Enlightenment - the theory of the "social contract" and the principle of "balance of power", which provides for the separation of its legislative functions from the executive in order to prevent the concentration of absolute power in one hand.

With his pamphlet, Swift gained popularity among the Whigs. His literary fame was strengthened by the publication of a series of essays, The Bickerstaff Papers (1708-1709), in which he ridiculed a certain John Partridge, compiler of the annual astrological almanacs. The image of the extravagant gentleman Isaac Bickerstaff so pleased the reading public that essayist Richard Steele, close to the Whigs, began publishing the moralizing and satirical magazine Chatterbox (1709) on behalf of Bickerstaff. Swift contributed to this magazine, acting both as a poet and as a novelist.

Swift's emerging literary rapprochement with Whig journalism was countered by his disagreement with the Whigs over the political boundaries of religious tolerance. At the beginning of the XVIII century. The Whigs revised their attitude towards dissenters and, contrary to the "Act of Oath" (1673), raised the issue of recognizing their right to hold public office in Ireland. Swift, on the other hand, remained true to the old position of the Whigs and opposed any attempts to allow dissenters to rule the country. This was the basis on which the idea of ​​his pamphlets was formed, directed against the position of the Whigs in the church question. Among them, such a pamphlet as "Discourse on the inconvenience of the destruction of Christianity in England" (1708-1711), belongs to the masterpieces of satirical journalism. In it, the logical harmony of presentation contrasts with the parodic-grotesque content. By using the word "Christianity" as a synonym for "Anglicanism," Swift declares the supposed repeal of the "Act of Oath" to be the destruction of Christianity. The resulting comic ambiguity turns into the grotesque as the evidence for the main thesis is presented and a satirical panorama of a society is presented in which "notions of wealth and power" are compatible only with "nominal Christianity."

This pamphlet revealed not only Swift's disagreement with the Whigs regarding the Anglican Church, but also his rejection of the "monetary interest" basis of their social orientation. Swift's break with the Whigs was thus already predetermined, although in fact it did not occur until 1710, when Swift went over to the side of the Torian party and became its propagandist. The press became an instrument of the inter-party struggle for power, and Swift took the most active part in this struggle. The period of Swift's Tory journalistic activity is characterized by extreme richness; publications of this period account for about a third of Swift's entire prose heritage. They still find their reader to this day and retain the value of models in the genre of propaganda magazine prose.

From September 1710 to June 1713 Swift was in London. At this time, his activities as a Tory publicist unfolded. Swift constantly communicated with the leaders of the Tory party, who showed him the favor, but did not devote all the details of their complex game. In the field of literary relations, the small circle of the "Club of Martin Scriblerus (Scribblers)" was of the greatest importance. Detailed information about the political and literary events of London of that time has come down to us in Swift's letters, which later (after Swift's death) were called "The Diary for Stella" and addressed to a friend of his life - Esther Johnson.

At the end of 1713, having received, under the patronage of the Tory ministers, the post of dean in the Dublin Cathedral of St. Patrick, Swift leaves London and returns to Ireland.

The third period of Swift's work opens with the pamphlet A Proposal for the General Use of Irish Manufactory (1720), followed by a number of other pamphlets about Ireland. At the beginning of the XVIII century. Ireland's population was heterogeneous (indigenous people - the Celts, Anglo-Irish farmers, merchants and artisans, English officials). Swift spoke in defense of the Anglo-Irish, but in doing so he raised the issue of the plight of all of Ireland. Central to Swift's Irish journalism is The Clothmaker's Letters (1724). After publishing them, Swift took part in the campaign against a patent issued by the British government to a certain Budu for the right to mint small coins in Ireland. Wood's patent was treated negatively in Ireland for both political reasons (the lack of its own mint infringed on the status of Ireland) and economic nature (it was believed that it would worsen the conditions of monetary circulation). The Irish Parliament and its executive bodies took a number of measures against Wood's coin, which were required to be supported by a boycott of the Irish. The Clothmaker's Letters contributed to this boycott and forced the London government to cancel Wood's patent. Giving a general assessment of his Irish journalism, Swift noted that it was dictated by "an implacable hatred of tyranny and oppression." Such is the pathos of the Clothmaker's Letters. Swift bases his argument on the concept of freedom and interdependence of all citizens, as they were understood by him in Discourse on Discords and Strife, reinforcing this idea with the idea of ​​the legal independence of Ireland, put forward by the Enlightenment philosopher and friend of Locke, William Molino. Following Molino, The Clothmaker can find nothing in English or Irish laws "that makes Ireland more dependent on England than England is on Ireland."

Swift's publicistic work in defense of Ireland was accompanied by a creative upsurge, which resulted in the creation of Gulliver's Travels (1721-1725), published in London in 1726. Gulliver's Travels is Swift's highest achievement, prepared by all his previous activities. With the "Tale of the Barrel" "Journey" is associated with the commonality of the tradition of allegorical satire, continuity in the parody of "scholarship" and the similarity of methods of mystification. Discourse on Strife and Differences serves as a concept of political history, which found its artistic embodiment in Travels. "A Discourse on the Inconvenience of the Destruction of Christianity in England" anticipates the "Travels" by the character of a satirical description of English manners and customs; "Papers of Bickerstaff" - with the liveliness of comic reincarnations of a fictional author; political pamphlets - the art of topical allusion; Swift's Tory journalism and The Clothmaker's Letters, with their focus on accessibility and persuasiveness for readers of various levels, gave Swift the writing experience that allowed him to make Travels an entertaining read, from, in the words of his friends, "from the cabinet to the nursery"; finally, Swift's work in defense of Ireland was animated by the same moralist-enlightenment desire to "fix the world" that inspired him when he created "Travels".

The main theme of "Travels" is the variability of the external appearance of the world of nature and man, represented by the fantastic and fabulous environment that Gulliver finds himself in during his wanderings. The changing face of fantastic countries emphasizes, in accordance with Swift's intention, the immutability of the inner essence of mores and customs, which is expressed by the same circle of ridiculed vices. Introducing fabulous and fantastic narrative motifs in their own artistic function, Swift does not limit himself to it, but expands its significance through parody, on the basis of which the satirical grotesque is built. Parody always presupposes the moment of imitation of a previously known model and thereby draws its source into the sphere of action. The text of "Journeys" is literally permeated with allusions, reminiscences, allusions, hidden and explicit quotations.

The double artistic function of fantasy - entertaining and grotesque parody - is developed by Swift in line with the ancient and humanistic tradition through plot parallels, which constitute a special layer of the sources of "Journeys". In accordance with this tradition, motifs are grouped around the scheme of a fictional journey. As for Gulliver, this scheme is also based on the English prose of the 17th century, in which the narratives of travelers of the era of great geographical discoveries are widely represented. From descriptions of sea voyages of the 17th century. Swift borrowed an adventure flavor that gave fiction the illusion of visible reality. This illusion is also increased due to the fact that in appearance between the midgets and giants, on the one hand, and Gulliver himself and his world, on the other, there is an exact ratio of magnitudes. Quantitative relationships are supported by the qualitative differences that Swift establishes between the mental and moral level of Gulliver, his consciousness and, accordingly, the consciousness of the Lilliputians, Brobdingnezhians, Yahoo and Houyhnhnms. The angle of view from which Gulliver sees the next country of his wanderings is precisely established in advance: it is determined by how much its inhabitants are higher or lower than Gulliver mentally and morally. This harmonious system of dependencies to some extent helps the reader to understand the attitude of its creator towards Gulliver. The illusion of verisimilitude, enveloping the grotesque world of "Journeys", on the one hand, brings it closer to the reader, on the other hand, masks the pamphlet basis of the work. The illusion of credibility also serves as a camouflage for the irony of the author, who imperceptibly puts masks on Gulliver, depending on the tasks of satire. However, plausibility always remains only an illusion and is not designed to be taken at face value by all readers. The fairy-tale plot, combined with the believable adventure flavor of a sea voyage, forms the constructive basis of the Journeys. This includes an autobiographical element - family stories and Swift's own impressions of the unusual adventure of his early childhood (at the age of one, he was secretly taken away by his nanny from Ireland to England and lived there for almost three years). This is a superficial layer of storytelling that has allowed "Journeys" from the very first publications to become a reference book for children's reading. However, the storylines of the plot, being an allegory of generalized satire, combine many semantic elements designed exclusively for an adult reader - allusions, puns, parodies, etc. etc., - into a single composition representing Swift's laughter in the widest range - from a joke to "severe indignation".

The subject of the satirical depiction in Journeys is history. Swift introduces the reader to it on the example of contemporary England. The first and third parts abound in allusions, and the satire in them is more concrete than in the other two parts. In Journey to Lilliput, hints are organically woven into the development of the action. Swift's historical allusion does not differ in chronological sequence, it can refer to an individual and indicate small biographical details, without excluding a satirical generalization, it can imply an exact date or cover a whole period, be unambiguous or ambiguous. Thus, for example, in the second part, the description of past troubles in Brobdingnag implies the social upheavals of the 17th century; in the third part, which breaks up into separate episodes, the target of satire is not only the vices of English political life, but also the exorbitantly ambitious (from Swift's point of view) claims of experimental and mathematical natural science (“new” in The Tale of the Barrel). Both hints of the topic of the day and a multifaceted allegory of a flying island hovering over a devastated country with devastated farmlands are woven into the canvas of the fantastic narrative of this part (an allegorical depiction of both the English colonial administration of Ireland and Other aspects of the social life of England in the era of Swift).

The grotesque satirical description of all three countries that Gulliver visits before his final journey contains a contrasting moment - the motif of utopia, an ideal social order. This motive is also used in a function that is actually inherent in it, that is, it is a way of expressing Swift's positive views; as an author's idea in its purest form, it is difficult to isolate, because the reflection of the grotesque always falls on it. The motive of utopia is expressed as an idealization of ancestors. He gives Gulliver's narrative a special perspective, in which history appears to the reader as a change of degrading generations, and time is turned back. This angle was filmed in the last journey, where the utopian motif is brought to the forefront of the narrative, and the development of society is presented as ascending. Its extreme points are embodied in guignhnms and yexu. The Houyhnhnms have been elevated to the pinnacle of intellectual, moral, and state culture; However, such a situation is not presented unchanged by nature. The social structure of the Houyhnhnms rests on the principles of reason, and in his satire Swift uses the description of this device as a counterbalance to the picture of European society in the 17th century. This expands the range of his satire. However, the country of the Houyhnhnms is the ideal of Gulliver, but not of Swift. Of course, Gulliver does not notice the cruelty of the Houyhnhnms towards the Yahoos. But Swift sees this: the Houyhnhnms wanted to “wipe the Yahoos off the face of the earth” only because “were it not for constant supervision, they would secretly suck milk from the cows belonging to the Houyhnhnms, kill and devour their cats, trample their oats and grass ". The author's ironic attitude towards Gulliver, who fell into ecstatic enthusiasm (i.e. Jack's "zeal" from The Tale of the Barrel) under the influence of the intellect of the Houyhnhnms, is manifested not only in Gulliver's comic imitation of horses, his strange behavior during the return trip to England and cravings to the stable when returning home - Gulliver experienced similar comic effects of the environment after returning from his previous travels - but also in the fact that in the ideal world of the Houyhnhnms for Gulliver, Swift outlined the contours of the most tyrannical slavery.

The protest against the lack of freedom belongs to the running and leading themes of Journeys. It is all the more significant that, fascinated by the intellect of the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver feels only disgust for creatures like himself, whom he sees "tied by the neck to a log," and calmly uses "snares made of Yahoo hair." Thus, Swift puts the rationalism of the Enlighteners to the test with laughter, and where they saw an unlimited prospect for the development of the individual, he sees the possibility of its degeneration. Enlightenment rationalism, against which Swift's mockery is directed, was confessed by his close friends - the Tories. To their definition of man as a "rational being," Swift contrasted his own, which argued that man is only "capable of thinking." Behind this opposition was another: Swift's Thorian opponents considered the perfection of the mind to be the privilege of a narrow cultural elite and were skeptical of his attempts to "instruct Dublin citizens", whom they regarded as a "crowd", "an ugly beast, driven by passions, but not possessing reason"; Swift, insisting on the propaganda benefits of his Irish pamphlets, believed that the human mind is very weak and imperfect, but all people have it, and everyone is given the right to choose between good and evil. Swift's dispute with his Tory friends, covering a long period of time (1716-1725), including the entire creative history of the Travels, reflected the originality of Swift's socio-political position as a consistent defender of the Irish people in their tragic struggle for freedom.

The last decade of Swift's creative activity, which followed the publication of Travels (1726-1737), was marked by extraordinary activity. Swift writes a wide variety of journalistic and satirical works. Among them, pamphlets on the Irish theme occupy a prominent place. Swift's speeches in defense of Ireland continue to resonate widely and generate public acclaim. He was elected an honorary citizen of Dublin (1729). However, despite the victory in the campaign against Wood's patent, Swift is not deceived by the results achieved, as evidenced by the darkest of his pamphlets, A Modest Proposal (1729). Dublin Cathedral of St. Patrika was located in the heart of the weavers' residential quarters, and its dean faced their disorder, hunger and poverty every day. The pamphlet "A Modest Proposal" is imbued with a painful sense of the tragic gap between Swift's desire to "fix the world" and what was daily presented to his eyes. In his prudence and propensity for accurate calculations, the fictional author of A Modest Proposal resembles the writer of A Discourse on the Inconvenience of Destroying Christianity in England. But if his desire to talk about his chosen subject is ridiculous and ridiculous, then this author’s desire to deserve “to have a monument erected as the savior of the fatherland” for his project of eating the meat of the children of the Irish poor is calculated to bring pain to the reader, Swift's despair and anger.

During this period, Swift is no less prolific in poetry than in prose. His poems are distinguished by thematic diversity, marked by innovations in form (especially with regard to rhythm, for example, "Business", 1731). The leading poetic genre is political satire, usually associated with Ireland (“Legion Club”, 1736), etc. Swift sums up his creative activity in one of his most significant poetic works - “Poems on the Death of Dr. Swift” (1731, publ. 1738), where he evaluates his own works through the mouth of an "impartial critic":

Swift died October 19, 1745 in Dublin. An epitaph composed by him is carved on his grave: “Here lies the body of Jonathan Swift, Doctor of Divinity, Dean of this Cathedral, where severe indignation cannot torment the heart of the deceased. Pass, traveler, and imitate, if you can, to the best of your ability, the bold defender of freedom.

October 19 is the day of memory of the famous world-famous writer Jonathan Swift, who surprised his contemporaries and continues to amaze posterity with his life and work. This master of words became famous for his satirical works "The Tale of the Barrel", "Gulliver's Travels" and pamphlets, the most famous of which is "A Modest Proposal", denouncing human and social vices. The writings of this author remain relevant today.

Swift's family lived in Ireland, where his father, who died before the birth of his son, moved in search of a better life. Jonathan, named after his father, was born in Dublin in 1667. Already from the birth of Swift, hardships and hardships awaited.

His mother gave her son to the care of an uncle and left for England. At the age of four, wealthy relatives identified the boy in a school, after which Swift entered college in 1682, where he received a bachelor's degree in philosophy and a strong dislike for scientific wisdom.

Then Swift leaves for England and gets a job as a secretary to the influential nobleman Sir William Temple, who appreciated the young talent, put his rich library at his disposal, allowed him to attend receptions where noble people of that time gathered, and even helped to continue his studies at Oxford, where Jonathan received his master's degree in 1692.

Subsequently, the famous writer will call his life in the Temple estate the happiest period of his life, despite the differences with his master in his views and judgments. It is here that the future exposer of earthly vices will gain experience in communicating with educated people and learn a lot of interesting things from the life of secular society, which will be valuable material for the great satirist.

It is from this moment that the formation of Swift as a writer and his development as a public figure begins. We offer to recall interesting facts from the life of a wonderful author and his great works.

Despite the fact that Swift ridiculed shortcomings, he was a gloomy person. Here is how his contemporary Count Orrery characterizes the satirist: “Dr. Swift had a naturally stern face, even a smile could not soften him, and no pleasures made him peaceful and serene; but when anger is added to this severity, it is simply impossible to imagine an expression or facial features that would inspire greater horror and awe.

He liked to participate incognito in political and literary disputes. Back in 1694, Swift took holy orders, and in 1700 he was appointed minister of the cathedral in Dublin. But the inquisitive mind of the writer did not allow Jonathan to "sit still", and he sometimes came to London to keep abreast of the latest news in various areas of life. To do this, Swift not only communicated with the London high society, but also sat in coffee houses where famous writers gathered.

Thus, visitors to the Wetton Coffee House were more than once surprised how an unknown gloomy man, dressed in a black vicar's cassock, sat for a long time at a table, listening to political or literary disputes, and then burst into such puns and witticisms, which were then retold for a long time by the inhabitants of London.

Swift's pamphlets became the causes of political scandals. A sharp mind and freshness of views helped the writer in compiling texts that were bright, uncompromising, with no direct sermon, ironic description of events and leaving the reader to draw conclusions. All this contributed to the great popularity of Swift's writings in various sectors of society and made the writer's work an instrument in the struggle of various political currents.

When the Tories came close to winning the English House of Commons in 1701 by propagating populist demagogy, Swift, as a man highly suspicious of populism, wrote a pamphlet "Discourse on the strife and disagreements between the nobility and communities in Athens and Rome". In it, he emphasized that “in ancient times freedom was destroyed in the same way” and pointed out that party squabbles are a symptom of democratic tyranny, which is no better than the tyranny of aristocrats. The Whigs then defeated the Tories.

A series of pamphlets, The Clothmaker's Letters, made Swift a national hero in Ireland. Jonathan Swift was not Irish, but he was born there, and then became rector of the cathedral in Dublin, so he defended the rights of the Irish people in every possible way.

In 1724, the British government granted a patent to a certain swindler Wood for the monopoly coinage in Ireland. Swift writes pamphlets called "The Clothmaker's Letters", in which he reveals the essence of what is happening in an allegorical form and calls for a boycott of underweight coins and English goods.

The resonance was deafening, and the London government had no choice but to cancel the issued patent. After that, the famous writer became the national hero of Ireland.

"Letters of a Clothmaker" 1724

Swift advised selling children for meat. It was this idea that was expressed in a mockingly ironic tone by a well-known author in his pamphlet "Modest Proposal".

The tone of the treatise is deliberately businesslike. In this tone, the representative of numerous projectors argues in the satirist’s essay about what needs to be done to get rid of poverty and the plight of the Irish: “If we are not able to feed the children of the Irish poor, dooming them to poverty and hunger, let’s better sell them for meat and make gloves out of leather.”

The pamphlet caused a stormy scandal, both in England and in Ireland.

The book of the famous satirist "The Tale of the Barrel" interfered with his church career. Swift in 1704 publishes his satirical work "The Tale of the Barrel, written for the general improvement of the human race." Interestingly, in the English transcription, the “tale of the barrel” is translated as “to collect nonsense”, “to grind nonsense”.

In allegorical form, Jonathan in this book criticizes fruitless religious disputes about the priorities of church directions, feuds between the Catholic, Puritan and Anglican churches, and suggests looking for responsible positions for “bright minds among the inhabitants of Bedlam” (there were insane people).

The book became a sensation, was reprinted 3 times in a year and caused mixed responses in society. Some admired the merciless and inexhaustible wit of the author, others were horrified by such an irreverent approach to matters of religion. It is clear that Swift's church career was out of the question.

St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin

Swift published all his writings anonymously and did not receive anything for publications. Surprisingly, only for the book "Gulliver's Travels" the famous writer took payment, which amounted to 200 pounds. All his other works were printed completely free of charge. Not only that, Swift did not sign them, not caring about fame. Despite this, readers have already recognized the works of the brilliant author by his unique style, caustic satire and deadly irony.

Jonathan Swift's book "Gulliver's Travels" has many discrepancies. The famous story in the year of publication was reprinted 5 more times! Criticism considered this work to be the program manifesto of Swift the satirist, for others it seemed like a cheerful fantasy tale, a philosophical parable, a merciless satire on man and human society.

But one thing is certain, the book ridicules problems, some of which are still relevant today: “In a word, one cannot count all their projects to make humanity happy. It is only a pity that none of these projects has yet been completed, but for now the country, in anticipation of future blessings, has been devastated, houses are falling apart, and the population is starving and walking in rags.

In "Gulliver's Travels" there are attacks by the author against Newton. Now this will seem strange. But at that time Newton was the director of the Mint and gave permission to mint that notorious underweight copper coin for Ireland, which Swift ridiculed in his pamphlet The Clothmaker's Letters. This brilliant writer could not forgive a brilliant scientist.

Swift invented new words and "discovered" celestial bodies. In writings about Gulliver, Jonathan came up with the words "Lilliput" and "Yehu", which entered all the languages ​​​​of the world. Also in this book, the famous author mentions two satellites of the planet Mars, which were discovered much later.

The unsurpassed satirist wrote lyrical works. Surprisingly, famous for his evil satire and caustic irony, the famous writer created works of a lyrical nature. One of them is "Diary for Stella", where Swift appears in a different light, as a kind and caring friend.

Jonathan Swift was the unspoken ruler of Ireland. The works of the brilliant author were so popular and revered that he was known not only in England and Ireland, but also in Europe. However, Swift himself considered himself an "Irish exile", about whom the local governor said: "I rule Ireland with the permission of Dean Swift."

A famous writer predicted his madness. Towards the end of his life, Swift began to suffer from headaches and "mortal sorrow that kills soul and body."

Once, while walking in the park, he saw an elm drying up from the top. “So I will begin to die - from the head,” Jonathan said to his companion. Apparently, he felt that a caustic thought had a destructive power.

Swift wrote his own epitaph. Jonathan in a poem "Poems on the Death of Dr. Swift" wrote about himself:

Heal human corruption.

Fraudsters and rogues of all

Whipped his cruel laughter ...

Hold back his pen and tongue,

He would have achieved a lot in his life.

But he did not think about power,

Wealth is not considered happiness ...

I agree, dean's mind

Satyrs are full and gloomy;

But he was not looking for a tender lyre:

Our age is worthy only of satire.

He imagined to give a lesson to all people

Execution is not a name, but a vice.

And one someone to carve

He did not think, touching thousands" 1731

And to the will he attached an epitaph for his tombstone: “Here lies the body of Jonathan Swift, dean of this cathedral, and severe indignation no longer tears his heart. Go, traveler, and imitate, if you can, the one who courageously fought for the cause of freedom.

Another interesting fact is that Jonathan Swift's famous book "Gulliver's Travels" was filmed 10 times, and the brilliant author himself is mentioned only in Mark Zakharov's film "The House That Swift Built".