Book description
Who was Jonathan Swift? Bruce Arnold's provocative book examines
this enigmatic figure in the light of his relationships - with his
lover Esther Vanhomrigh ('Vanessa'), his ward Esther Johnston
('Stella'), and his many great male friends: Congreve, Temple,
Bolingbroke, Harley, Pope, Addison, Thomas Sheridan, and others.
Though often caricatured as a bitter misanthrope, Swift can only be
properly understood if we recognize his love of humanity and his
capacity for friendship. Arnold traces this theme from Swift's youth
in Ireland and his literary and political apprenticeship at Moor Park
in Surrey, and on through the years of greatness - the brilliant
satires and pamphlets, the Church diplomacy at the Court of Queen
Anne, and the great writings of his maturity: the Drapier's Letters, A
Modest Proposal, and Gulliver's Travels. Here, for the first time,
Swift's long and varied life is illustrated through contemporary
engravings of the places he lived in, the people he knew, and the
leading figures who defined his age.
