Sifts Satires on Modernism Battlegrounds of Reading and Writing [Hardcover]

More than three centuries later, Jonathan Swift's writing remains striking and relevant. In this engaging study, Atkins brings forty-plus years of critical experience to bear on some of the greatest satires ever written, revealing new contexts for understanding post-Reformation reading practices and the development of the modern personal essay.Introduction: The Spider and the Bee: Ancients vs. Moderns and the Battle of the Books 1. The World Swift Saw Aborning 2. The Priesthood of All Readers:'This good had full as bad a Consequence' 3. Swift and the Modern Personal Essay: A Tale of a Tub and 'A Modest Proposal' 4. Tripping and Troping , Inside and Out:Surface, Depth, and the 'Converting Imagination' in A Tale of a Tub 5. 'The Physical Act of Worship, not the Mental Act of Belief or Assent': Reading An Argument against Abolishing Christianity

It is very refreshing to find Swift discussed alongside more contemporary writers and genres. Stimulating and provocative, [this book] resonates beyond Swift himself to illuminate broader issues of the age, especially in its discussion of religion. - Jeffrey Smitten, Professor of English, Utah State University, USA

Atkins provides a major resource to contemporary readers of 18th-century literature by considering Swift's major satires in the context of the post-Reformation 'priesthood of all readers' By connecting Swift's works with later authors, Atkins opens up an exploration of modern self-sufficiency, figured in the image of the spider, and illuminates Swift's satires on the intellectual, religious, and philosophical situations of his day. The allegory of the dispute between the 'scurrilous spider' and the bee, along with references to 19th- and 20th-century essays, creates a new space for discussing Swift's classic satires, especially A Tale of a Tub and 'A Modest Proposal.' This text provides a fresh look at discussions of Swift's position on reading and writing, especially on the introspectivelS(