A Tale Of A Tub And Other Works

A Tale of a Tub is the masterpiece of Swift's earlier years. It is presented here with The Battle of the Books, The Mechanical Operation of the Spirit, and the Additions. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Reproduction of the original.

"A Tale of a Tub" is a work from Swift's earlier years. It is presented here with "The Battle of the Books", "The Mechanical Operation of the Spirit", and "The Additions"

Samuel Johnson, who did not like Swift, said that A Tale of a Tub «exhibits a vehemence and rapidity of mind, a copiousness of images, and vivacity of diction such as he afterwards never possessed or never exerted.» And in his old age «looking over the Tale, » Swift called out to Mrs. Whiteway, «Good God! What a genius I had when I wrote that book!» Harold Bloom says that A Tale of a Tub «is one of the handful of totally original works in the language.» This new edition presents the work as «an amazing comic book» which puts it in a class with Rabelais' Pantagruel. Both of these works became banned books, greatly increasing the sales. In this edition for the first time the Narrator of the text is discovered to be an authentic comic-pathetic character, with cropped ears, ill-cured syphilis, and suicidal impulses, waiting to be admitted to Bedlam, the new insane asylum, as a terminal patient. This edition is also the first to recognize that the text of A Tale of a Tub is a mosaic, composed of quotations from other texts, which incidentally accounts for the necessity of many end notes.

This authoritative edition brings together a unique selection from the full range of Swift's fifty-year career--prose, poetry, and letters--to give the essence of his work and thinking. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) is best known as the author of Gulliver's Travels, which alone would have secured his place in the history of English literature. But in addition to this classic fictional satire, Swift wrote numerous works concerning politics, religion, and Ireland, some savage, others humorous, all suffused with his tremendous wit and inventiveness. This anthology includes satirical works such as A Tale of a Tub and The Battle of the Books, political pamphlets, pieces for the popular press, poems, and a generous selection from Swift's correspondence. Presented chronologically, the anthology offers a new and clearer awareness of the unity as well as the complexity of Swift's vision, and the powerful bonds between disparate pieces.

Two children try to rescue the carp their mother plans to make into gefilte fish for the Seder.

Despite pleas from his court, a fun-loving king refuses to get out of his bathtub to rule his kingdom.