Born in Dublin, Ireland. Born in Dublin, Ireland

Born in Dublin, Ireland.

• Born in Dublin, Ireland.

• At 19, he is employed by Sir William Temple a powerful English statesman.

• Tutors 8 year old Esther “Stella” Johnson.

• Develops Ménière’s Syndrome, a disturbance of the inner ear.

• 1694: Deacon and later Priest in Dublin

Falls in love with Jane “Varina” Waring.

• Falls in love with Jane “Varina” Waring.

• 1696: returns to Temple’s service. Temple dies in1699. Series of clerical jobs in Ireland.

• 1704: Tale of the Tub: satire on corruptions in religion and learning. Also Battle of the Books, a mock-epic on the debate between Ancients and Moderns.

1707: Involved with The Tatler. Adopts pseudonym Issac Bickerstaff.

• 1707: Involved with The Tatler. Adopts pseudonym Issac Bickerstaff.

• 1720: Involved with Irish causes.

• 1729: A Modest Proposal

• 1726: Gulliver’s Travels

• 1742: establishes site for insane asylum (St. Patrick’s Hospital)

makes a subject appear ridiculous (may invite scorn, contempt, indignation, along with amusement)

• makes a subject appear ridiculous (may invite scorn, contempt, indignation, along with amusement)

• satiric vs. comic (satire is amusing though serious; attacks an individual or a “type”; comic evokes amusement, usually through farce)

• - satire looks to correct a perceived problem (comedy does not)

satire as intellectual (evidence of the intellect of the writer)

• satire as intellectual (evidence of the intellect of the writer)

• - how does the heroic couplet work as part of satire?

• satire as corrective (it can turn the subject’s own self-centeredness against itself; only through satire can the subject be reached)

role of the speaker: mock-heroic (unaware of his own ridiculousness)

• role of the speaker: mock-heroic (unaware of his own ridiculousness)

• Mac Flecknoe = indirect satire (versus direct personal address by a competent narrator/speaker)

• wit:

• - suggests an element of the comic through verbal play

• - wit as verbal dexterity; wit connects the intellect with the use of language

Paints a distorted verbal picture of part of the world in order to show its true moral (as opposed to merely its physical) nature.

• Paints a distorted verbal picture of part of the world in order to show its true moral (as opposed to merely its physical) nature.

• – May be in verse or prose form.
• – Relies on an a priori agreement regarding moral behavior.

Relies on irony, wit, and sometimes sarcasm.

• Relies on irony, wit, and sometimes sarcasm.

• 18th-Century satire: Attempts to be wise, smooth, urbane, and skeptical.

• – The prose satiric tone is often harsh, sharp, and sometimes downright nasty.

• Ironic Iraqi dinar: presents a distorted picture in order to show true moral nature of US “interest” in Iraq. A priori moral assumption: U.S. president should NOT be affiliated with Iraqi money.

Direct: relies on a first-person narrator (the adversarius)

• Direct: relies on a first-person narrator (the adversarius)

• – Horatian: pokes fun at human folly. More comedic, less serious.
• – Juvenalian: relies on dignified denunciations. Often more politically focused.

• Indirect: satiric effect is achieved through

• modes of presentation & representation, not

• direct condemnation.

• • Swift combines the two types and is more

• Juvenalian than Horatian.

• – Relies on your ability to understand irony.

Indirect: satiric effect is achieved through

• Indirect: satiric effect is achieved through

• modes of presentation & representation, not

• direct condemnation.

• Swift combines the two types and is more

• Juvenalian than Horatian.

• – Relies on your ability to understand irony.

Objectivity

• Objectivity

• – Science is the paradigm for all true knowledge.

• Right use of reason

• – claims to authority grounded in reason

• Reason is independent of self / context

• – complex connections between reason, autonomy, and freedom.

Language is “transparent

• Language is “transparent

• These ideas of the Enlightenment enable the irony in 18th-century satire.

Irony: a contradiction or incongruity between appearance and / or expectation.

• Irony: a contradiction or incongruity between appearance and / or expectation.

• Sarcasm: intentional derision, generally directed at another person, and intended to hurt.

• Can jeeringly state the opposite of what is meant

Was Irish.

• Was Irish.

• Religious Biography

• So, would this man seriously suggest eating Irish babies?

Narrative “I”

• Narrative “I”

• – Self-effacing but…. “As to my own part…” (484).

• Irony

• – Title: is this a “modest” proposal? (485)

• Language / resources

• – Word choices: “breeders,” “dams” (484)
• – Referenced “authorities”: Americans and Formosans

Cannibals and savages

• Cannibals and savages

• Sarcasm

• – Moral expediency (484, 486-487)
• – Rejects actual moral options (488)