Book contents
- Jonathan Swift in Context
- Jonathan Swift in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Part I Personal
- Part II Publishing History and Legacy
- Part III Literary Background
- Part IV Genres
- Part V The External World
- Part VI Social and Intellectual Topics
- Chapter 35 Philosophy
- Chapter 36 Science
- Chapter 37 Race
- Chapter 38 Material Culture
- Chapter 39 Gender
- Chapter 40 Colonialism
- Chapter 41 The Body
- Chapter 42 Demography
- Chapter 43 Food
- Chapter 44 Economics
- Further Reading
- Index
Chapter 40 - Colonialism
from Part VI - Social and Intellectual Topics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 May 2024
- Jonathan Swift in Context
- Jonathan Swift in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Abbreviations
- Part I Personal
- Part II Publishing History and Legacy
- Part III Literary Background
- Part IV Genres
- Part V The External World
- Part VI Social and Intellectual Topics
- Chapter 35 Philosophy
- Chapter 36 Science
- Chapter 37 Race
- Chapter 38 Material Culture
- Chapter 39 Gender
- Chapter 40 Colonialism
- Chapter 41 The Body
- Chapter 42 Demography
- Chapter 43 Food
- Chapter 44 Economics
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
This chapter examines Swift’s complex relationship to colonialism. Arguing that we cannot understand Swift’s anti-colonialism as part of what we might think of as some kind of progressive or liberatory project, the chapter explores the seeming inconsistency of his contemptuous attitude towards colonised peoples (particularly the ‘Savage Irish’). The colonisation and oppression of Ireland, and his complex position as both beneficiary and subject of it, is important to Swift’s writings. But this background also makes it difficult to pin down precise ideological positions or find straightforward political analogies or critiques in his works. The chapter concludes with an extended reading of Gulliver’s Travels, situating it in the broader context of debates around colonialism
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- Jonathan Swift in Context , pp. 319 - 326Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024