Chapter 27 - Clubs

Summary

Despite his reputation for misanthropy, Swift was a clubbable man. Many of Swift’s writings emerged from his associational contexts. This chapter begins with a section on the clubs that shaped Swift’s early writings, including the Kit-Cat and the October Club. The next section shifts to the two clubs of which Swift was a member, the Saturday Club and the Brothers Club, and the activities he engaged in as a member. The final section looks at the meetings of the Scriblerus Club and its association with Robert Harley. Swift’s involvement with clubs was shaped by his enthusiasm to be considered one of the ministerial elite, but in time the expense and size of the Brothers Club faded his enjoyment. In the Scriblerus meetings he found a much cosier association in which shared literary interests were more important than political allegiance and in which real and lasting friendships could flourish.