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
- Chapter 16 Satire
- Chapter 17 Pamphleteering and Political Journalism
- Chapter 18 Familiar Verse
- Chapter 19 Fables and Fantasy
- Chapter 20 Parody and Hoax
- Chapter 21 Sermons
- Chapter 22 History
- Chapter 23 Correspondence
- Chapter 24 The Novel
- Part V The External World
- Part VI Social and Intellectual Topics
- Further Reading
- Index
Chapter 24 - The Novel
from Part IV - Genres
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
- Chapter 16 Satire
- Chapter 17 Pamphleteering and Political Journalism
- Chapter 18 Familiar Verse
- Chapter 19 Fables and Fantasy
- Chapter 20 Parody and Hoax
- Chapter 21 Sermons
- Chapter 22 History
- Chapter 23 Correspondence
- Chapter 24 The Novel
- Part V The External World
- Part VI Social and Intellectual Topics
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
This chapter explores the uneasy relationship between Gulliver’s Travels and scholarship on the development of the English novel during the eighteenth century. The chapter argues that to approach the miscellaneous Gulliver’s Travels with a rigid and absolute conception of genre is to overlook Swift’s engagement with a range of new and old fictional modes. Placing Swift in context means recognising the doubtful applicability to Gulliver of retrospectively formulated assumptions about the novel, including consistency of character. The final section of the chapter looks beyond Gulliver to consider the novelistic qualities of A Tale of a Tub and the lesser-known Memoirs of Capt. John Creichton.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Jonathan Swift in Context , pp. 190 - 198Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024