Swift: An Illustrated Life

by Bruce Arnold

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 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 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.

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2000

About the author

Bruce Arnold is an English journalist and author who has lived in Ireland since 1957. His main expertise is in the fields of literary criticism and art criticism.
In 1983 it emerged that his telephone had been bugged by Charles J. Haughey in the Irish phone tapping scandal. He and the other bugged journalists were considered to have "anti-national" views.