by Smasha on Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:48 am
Gulliver's Travels is easily one of the very best novels I have ever read. Highly highly recommended.
Make sure you read it annotated, and preferably after reading some articles on the culture and politics of the time. Get a map of London at the time. I'm serious. Otherwise, you won't get the jokes, or appreciate his brilliance.
Then read Swift's shorter satires. And then read his two bedroom poems: "The Lady's Dressing Room" and "A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed" (in that order!). And finish with the poem where Swift satirically kills himself: "Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift." And when you put it down sigh to yourself with a tear in your eye and say "No, Dean, it has been centuries, and we have never stopped mentioning you."
Ohhh God do I love Swift.
Last edited by
Smasha on Thu Jan 13, 2011 10:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.