Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion
This topic is about
A Modest Proposal
Specific List Books
>
A Modest Proposal – Jonathan Swift
date
newest »
newest »
I remember reading that in high school and being freaked out, thinking it was a real program proposal. Add in my extremely vivd imagination, and it was not so fun...until the teacher finally told us the deal with it. Then I thought Swift was a gutsy genius.
I LOVED this one. I didn't much care for Gulliver's Travels, but what I really enjoyed (not on this list) is Swift's "Abolishing Christianity." "A Tale of a Tub" (on the list) is also good.
I adore this essay, but I don't quite understand why it's on the list. It's a bit of a stretch to call it a novel.Nonetheless, it's brilliant.
It's a complete stretch to call it, or any of Poe's short stories, novels.
But at least Poe's short stories are fiction. One could even argue that short stories are like miniature novels. In any case, they are closer to novels than A Modest Proposal is.But yes. This is the principle strike against the credibility of this list, IMHO.
Lol...I always think of Sealab 2020 when I hear someone talk about the proposal..."Watcha readin?
A book....
What's it about?
Eating babies..."
Lmao!
Oh I do so hope I can use that very line one day Abigail!!I'm reading a book about eating babies.
How fabulous!
I only read part of this in Highschool I can't wait to read the whole thing. Especially after reading everyone's comments.
Gulliver's Travels is not as satisfying as A Modest Proposal, in part due to it's length and in part due to the fact that it is a MUCH more complex satire about people, places, & ideas that a lot of us don't know much about..As for its place on this list: there are a number of short works that are definitely not novels. They are significant parts of the canon, perhaps, but not "books."
Gulliver's Travels! I am still deeply loving it. It was a gift from Santa and I was little and it was a big book full of nice pictures ... Reading it is one of my dearest memories related to books. It was a wondeful Christmas!
Swift had a sharp & nasty tongue which, given the legal system of the time/place, he was lucky not to have had nailed to the public stocks. I read Gulliver's travels when I was too young to appreciate it properly. Where are the satirists of his calibre today when they are so sorely needed? TV? Stephen Colbert? Rick Mercer? Any suggestions?
I love reading the proposal... I just re-read it today... but I have to agree that it's a bit of a stretch to call it "one of the 1001 books to read before you die" It hardly falls into the book category. And if someone tried to sell it to me as a book I'd slap them for trying to rip me off.
On a side note, there is a blogger who goes by the nom de plume, "Jon Swift." Some of his stuff is pretty spot on, if you are bored and so inclined. http://jonswift.blogspot.com/Colbert is good.
The Onion is pretty great sometimes (definitely funny, even if light on the social commentary). http://www.theonion.com/
Excellent, biting social satire. The Onion today seems similar. I loved this essay. A thought occurred to me that the list has one representative sample of several genres so A Modest Proposal is the essay, Watchmen is the graphic novel, Pippi Longstocking is the juvenile literature, Poe, Gogol, and others are short stories. Also, very popular authors of literary merit are selected with one example to represent them so you have The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie, Casino Royale by Ian Fleming, and The Shining by Stephen King. Interesting, to say the least. I think it works.
It was completely a social satire to me and I enjoyed reading and thinking about Swift's approach to such an observable reality in society. This piece of literary work was one of those we studied in university for English Literature and it changed to be a memorable sample of satire in my mind.
Chel wrote: "Excellent, biting social satire. The Onion today seems similar. I loved this essay. A thought occurred to me that the list has one representative sample of several genres so A Modest Proposal is..."That's what I had concluded also though it is a mystery to me why the particular representative book titles were selected...the Swift choice is great, but why "Ackroyd" for Christie, "Thank You, Jeeves" for Wodehouse, etc. If all their books were equal, I guess it could have been random; but books are never equal, even when by the same author...Oh well...
Very short indeed. I read the Project Gutenberg version on a Kindle and when it said 54% done the text was starting to round up. Turned out the rest of the pages were license and that sort.
Judith wrote: "Chel wrote: "Excellent, biting social satire. The Onion today seems similar. I loved this essay. A thought occurred to me that the list has one representative sample of several genres so A Modes..."The end of Roger Ackroyd became a classic and entered the literary canon-postmodern theorist Jacques Derrida even wrote an essay dedicated to this work. Her ending was considered revolutionary.
I started reading The Hunger Games (not a list book) right after. Like 300 years just past and nothing happen. Odd feeling.
I loved this in high school and quite enjoyed it again. He does at least by the end recommend other alternatives to the problem...albeit in an off-handed way. Witty satire at its best!
It was a quick read too! An easy one to knock of the list.