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A Tale of a Tub: The Battle of the Books – The Mechanical Operation of the Spirit. Edited by Frank H. Ellis
Samuel Johnson, who did not like Swift, said that A Tale of a Tub «exhibits a vehemence and rapidity of mind, a copiousness of images, and vivacity of diction such as he afterwards never possessed or never exerted.» And in his old age «looking over the Tale,» Swift called out to Mrs. Whiteway, «Good God! What a genius I had when I wrote that book!»
Harold Bloom says that A Tale of a Tub «is one of the handful of totally original works in the language.» This new edition presents the work as «an amazing comic book» which puts it in a class with Rabelais’ Pantagruel . Both of these works became banned books, greatly increasing the sales. In this edition for the first time the Narrator of the text is discovered to be an authentic comic-pathetic character, with cropped ears, ill-cured syphilis, and suicidal impulses, waiting to be admitted to Bedlam, the new insane asylum, as a terminal patient. This edition is also the first to recognize that the text of A Tale of a Tub is a mosaic, composed of quotations from other texts, which incidentally accounts for the necessity of many end notes.
Harold Bloom says that A Tale of a Tub «is one of the handful of totally original works in the language.» This new edition presents the work as «an amazing comic book» which puts it in a class with Rabelais’ Pantagruel . Both of these works became banned books, greatly increasing the sales. In this edition for the first time the Narrator of the text is discovered to be an authentic comic-pathetic character, with cropped ears, ill-cured syphilis, and suicidal impulses, waiting to be admitted to Bedlam, the new insane asylum, as a terminal patient. This edition is also the first to recognize that the text of A Tale of a Tub is a mosaic, composed of quotations from other texts, which incidentally accounts for the necessity of many end notes.
Hardcover
First published June 28, 1958
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About the author
Jonathan Swift
5,025 books2,167 followersJonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, hence his common sobriquet, "Dean Swift".
Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver's Travels (1726), and A Modest Proposal (1729). He is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language. He originally published all of his works under pseudonyms—such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M.B. Drapier—or anonymously. He was a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles.
His deadpan, ironic writing style, particularly in A Modest Proposal, has led to such satire being subsequently termed "Swiftian".
Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver's Travels (1726), and A Modest Proposal (1729). He is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language. He originally published all of his works under pseudonyms—such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M.B. Drapier—or anonymously. He was a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles.
His deadpan, ironic writing style, particularly in A Modest Proposal, has led to such satire being subsequently termed "Swiftian".
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 19, 2020
Swift is funny.
August 24, 2023
Great satirical work on various religious interpretations of the Christian doctrine as well as divine authority, and how they all have led to multiple schisms and differences which sow a sense of discord amongst all.
December 27, 2021
Jonathan Swift is the embodiment a grade school prank where one student writes on the wall “look behind you” and you follow this advice and look behind you, where you find another sign that says “look up” and when you look up you see the words “you’re an idiot”. Known as probably the most famous satirist ever, these accolades also apply to these early works as well, as there were many parts I found genuinely ‘laugh out loud’ funny when I read a section that I was clearly able to understand. I would recommend that a reader actually read these works in backward order from how they are presented in this book (starting with “An Apology”), as I found Tale of a Tub the most difficult to penetrate, as the majority of its subtleties were lost to me, and the ‘Apology’ clearly spells out his intentions of his writings, which helps to gain a clearer understanding of what the writer intended.
Just to reiterate, this is a very difficult book to read and I would not recommend these works to a casual reader. In order to engage with his writing and witticisms the reader must not only be able to understand the language and structure of an early 18th century writer, which is very verbose and can be overly virtuoso at times, but also the representation of his symbolic narrative, as he writes almost exclusively in allegories. Unless the reader possesses a strong foundation in classical education or in 17th century literature and religious writing, then a majority of the meaning of the book will be inaccessible. Since I am not classically trained, nor well read in these subjects or time period, I sought out other books and papers on the internet that contained reviews and criticisms, namely “the essential writings of Jonathan Swift (book)”, to help navigate his writing, which did help me immensely.
The Tale of the Tub Notes:
This book is made up of 3 different writings, starting with the tale. The Tale of the Tub is a short story satire exploring the religious differences between Catholicism, Anglicanism, and Protestantism while also dealing blows to the popular literary criticism of the day. It’s Swift’s version of an examination of the corruptions in religion and learning through satirical allegory of three brothers (the 3 faiths), their coats (gifts/salvation from God) and their father’s will (the New Testament) and of the maintenance of their coats that is left to them upon his death. How they go grow to interpret this will and adjust their coats accordingly is rather funny as they go through very ridiculous alterations. Swift was an Anglican and therefore advocates for the brother Martin (Martin Luther) to be the most reasonable of the trio. Interspersed in this story is a series of digressions, basically deviations of from the story of the brothers, to talk about literary criticism, which I think can be summarized in the explanation of the 2nd treatise, as the Battle of the Books is a continuation of this line of thought.
The Battle of the Books:
This section is set in a fictitious battle, in a library, between the ancient books/writers and the moderns. Swift describes different actions carried out by each side which reads fairly like battles in the Aeneid, where Greek gods send aid to the side they have chosen. The ancients (i.e. Homer, Plato, and Aesop) having a much more mature understanding of knowledge and wisdom than modern writers have, they have legitimate Greek gods assist them in the battle, as opposed to the the moderns who are chiefly assisted by ‘the deity of criticism’ whose husband/father is ‘Ignorance’ (also bind due to age), ‘Opinion’ her sister, and her children ‘Noise’, ‘Impudence’, ‘Dullness’, ‘Vanity’, ‘Positiveness’, ‘Pedantry’, and ‘Ill-Manners’.
Swift clearly hated the arrogance of his age, and this arrogance was embodied by the modern writers. He also foresaw the dangerous effects that this reason could have upon the religious, literary, and intellectual structures of his day. Without the tradition of the ancients, reason alone would allow this new-aged sense of knowledge to be personally governed and controlled. Swift understood this principle. Without tradition, there is nothing to ensure that the machine of reason is not foolishness. Irvin Ehrenpreis captures Swift’s meaning well when he states, “the Battle is a defense of taste as an expression of character; and Swift implies ultimately that a good book is one which a ‘good’ man approves. By this principle one may use literature as a measure of social health. In a good society, bad writers cannot flourish because they will find no readers.”
Additionally, The powerful fable Swift tells of the bee and the spider I found very helpful to get his point across, as this seems to me to be the climax of his argument. There is a conversation the bee (the ancient) and spider (the modern) have on what they are to give credit to for their success. As the spider continues to swell with gas during the the conversation (due to his pride), he asserts that all his gifts, his web spinning and poison (notice how these are not positive things), come from himself and he therefore has no one to thank. Swift uses this from Francis Bacon, as Bacon compared an introspective, reclusive, narrow-read pedant to a spider: the scholastics, saying, “as the spider worketh his web, then it is endless, and brings forth indeed cobwebs of learning, admirable for the fineness of thread and work, but of no substance or profit”. But, running contrary to the spider is the bee and his response, which was also originally supplied by Bacon, and going back to him, as he states this so well saying, “the empirics, like the ant, amass only and use: the [dogmatists], like spiders, spin webs out of themselves: but the course of the bee lies midway; she gathers materials from the flowers of the garden and the field; and then by her own power turns and digests them. Not is the true labour of philosophy unlike hers: it does not depend entirely or even chiefly on the strength of the mind, nor does it store up in the memory the materials provided by natural history and mechanical experiments unaltered, but changes and digests them the intellect” and therefore the reply of the Ancients in Swift’s story is uncharacteristically direct, stating that, “We are content with the Bee, to pretend to Nothing of our own, beyond our wings and our Voice: that is to say, our Flights and our Language; For the rest, whatever we have got, has been by infinite Labor, and search, and ranging thro’ every Corner of Nature: The Difference is, that instead of Dirt and Poison, we have rather chose to fill our Hives with Honey and Wax, thus furnishing Mankind with the two Noblest of Things, which are Sweetness and Light”.
The Mechanical Operation of the Spirit:
Lastly, is this treatise on the fanaticism and Enthusiasm (the belief that one has been personally inspired by God) in the religious structures of the day and, as we know, this conversation still manifests today in the church, most commonly around the genuineness/authenticity of speaking in tongues. However, getting back to Enthusiasm in general, Swift believed that the aspect of human nature that promoted enthusiasm was pride and that the new intellectual developments of his day – such as Hobbes’s work – only helped to fuel that pride. Similar to the argument made in the Battle of the Books, Swift is stating that without tradition, Enthusiasm allows religious inspiration to be personally governed and controlled. T. S. Eliot points out that without the backbone of tradition, the common code of behavior, instead of imitating and approaching truth, becomes a "matter of habit" which exposes the common code to "prejudice and to change" ("Religion and Literature"). Swift drives home his point on how stupid he thinks Enthusiasm is with the criticism of Canting which was something that, “consists in skillfully adapting the Voice, to whatever Words the Spirit Delivers”. Since it is the embodiment of the Spirit, Swift argues, any sound that must come out from the orator must be from the Spirit, saying, “A Master Workman shall blow his Nose so powerfully, as to pierce the Hearts of his People, who are disposed to receive the Excrements of his Brain” (his snot) “with the same Reverence, as the Issue of it. Hawking, Spitting, and Belching, the Defects of other Mens Rhetorick, are the Flowers, and Figures, and Ornaments of his. For, the Spirit being the same in all, it is of no Import what Vehicle it is convey’d”.
All in all he’s really funny and witty, most likely ahead of his time, and still helpful navigating issues in our own time.
Memorable quotes:
- For, as health is but one thing, and has been always the same, whereas diseases are by the thousands, besides new and daily additions: so, all the virtues that have been ever in mankind, are to be counted upon a few fingers, but his follies and vices are innumerable, and time adds hourly to the heap
- But, as human happiness is of a very short duration, so in those days we’re human fashions, upon which it entirely depends
- For, to enter the Palace of learning at the great gate, requires an expense of time and forms; therefore men of much haste and little ceremony are content to get in by the back-door. For, the Arts are all in a flying march, and therefore more easily subdued by attacking them in the rear.
- First, it is generally affirm’d, or confess’d, that learning puffeth men up: and secondly, they proved it by the following syllogism; words are but wind; and learning is nothing but words, ergo, learning is nothing but wind.
- war begets poverty, poverty peace: peace maketh riches flow, (fate ne’er doth cease:) riches produceth Pride, Pride is War’s ground, War begets poverty, &c… (the world goes round)
- Religion being the best of things, it’s corruptions are likely to be the worst.
Just to reiterate, this is a very difficult book to read and I would not recommend these works to a casual reader. In order to engage with his writing and witticisms the reader must not only be able to understand the language and structure of an early 18th century writer, which is very verbose and can be overly virtuoso at times, but also the representation of his symbolic narrative, as he writes almost exclusively in allegories. Unless the reader possesses a strong foundation in classical education or in 17th century literature and religious writing, then a majority of the meaning of the book will be inaccessible. Since I am not classically trained, nor well read in these subjects or time period, I sought out other books and papers on the internet that contained reviews and criticisms, namely “the essential writings of Jonathan Swift (book)”, to help navigate his writing, which did help me immensely.
The Tale of the Tub Notes:
This book is made up of 3 different writings, starting with the tale. The Tale of the Tub is a short story satire exploring the religious differences between Catholicism, Anglicanism, and Protestantism while also dealing blows to the popular literary criticism of the day. It’s Swift’s version of an examination of the corruptions in religion and learning through satirical allegory of three brothers (the 3 faiths), their coats (gifts/salvation from God) and their father’s will (the New Testament) and of the maintenance of their coats that is left to them upon his death. How they go grow to interpret this will and adjust their coats accordingly is rather funny as they go through very ridiculous alterations. Swift was an Anglican and therefore advocates for the brother Martin (Martin Luther) to be the most reasonable of the trio. Interspersed in this story is a series of digressions, basically deviations of from the story of the brothers, to talk about literary criticism, which I think can be summarized in the explanation of the 2nd treatise, as the Battle of the Books is a continuation of this line of thought.
The Battle of the Books:
This section is set in a fictitious battle, in a library, between the ancient books/writers and the moderns. Swift describes different actions carried out by each side which reads fairly like battles in the Aeneid, where Greek gods send aid to the side they have chosen. The ancients (i.e. Homer, Plato, and Aesop) having a much more mature understanding of knowledge and wisdom than modern writers have, they have legitimate Greek gods assist them in the battle, as opposed to the the moderns who are chiefly assisted by ‘the deity of criticism’ whose husband/father is ‘Ignorance’ (also bind due to age), ‘Opinion’ her sister, and her children ‘Noise’, ‘Impudence’, ‘Dullness’, ‘Vanity’, ‘Positiveness’, ‘Pedantry’, and ‘Ill-Manners’.
Swift clearly hated the arrogance of his age, and this arrogance was embodied by the modern writers. He also foresaw the dangerous effects that this reason could have upon the religious, literary, and intellectual structures of his day. Without the tradition of the ancients, reason alone would allow this new-aged sense of knowledge to be personally governed and controlled. Swift understood this principle. Without tradition, there is nothing to ensure that the machine of reason is not foolishness. Irvin Ehrenpreis captures Swift’s meaning well when he states, “the Battle is a defense of taste as an expression of character; and Swift implies ultimately that a good book is one which a ‘good’ man approves. By this principle one may use literature as a measure of social health. In a good society, bad writers cannot flourish because they will find no readers.”
Additionally, The powerful fable Swift tells of the bee and the spider I found very helpful to get his point across, as this seems to me to be the climax of his argument. There is a conversation the bee (the ancient) and spider (the modern) have on what they are to give credit to for their success. As the spider continues to swell with gas during the the conversation (due to his pride), he asserts that all his gifts, his web spinning and poison (notice how these are not positive things), come from himself and he therefore has no one to thank. Swift uses this from Francis Bacon, as Bacon compared an introspective, reclusive, narrow-read pedant to a spider: the scholastics, saying, “as the spider worketh his web, then it is endless, and brings forth indeed cobwebs of learning, admirable for the fineness of thread and work, but of no substance or profit”. But, running contrary to the spider is the bee and his response, which was also originally supplied by Bacon, and going back to him, as he states this so well saying, “the empirics, like the ant, amass only and use: the [dogmatists], like spiders, spin webs out of themselves: but the course of the bee lies midway; she gathers materials from the flowers of the garden and the field; and then by her own power turns and digests them. Not is the true labour of philosophy unlike hers: it does not depend entirely or even chiefly on the strength of the mind, nor does it store up in the memory the materials provided by natural history and mechanical experiments unaltered, but changes and digests them the intellect” and therefore the reply of the Ancients in Swift’s story is uncharacteristically direct, stating that, “We are content with the Bee, to pretend to Nothing of our own, beyond our wings and our Voice: that is to say, our Flights and our Language; For the rest, whatever we have got, has been by infinite Labor, and search, and ranging thro’ every Corner of Nature: The Difference is, that instead of Dirt and Poison, we have rather chose to fill our Hives with Honey and Wax, thus furnishing Mankind with the two Noblest of Things, which are Sweetness and Light”.
The Mechanical Operation of the Spirit:
Lastly, is this treatise on the fanaticism and Enthusiasm (the belief that one has been personally inspired by God) in the religious structures of the day and, as we know, this conversation still manifests today in the church, most commonly around the genuineness/authenticity of speaking in tongues. However, getting back to Enthusiasm in general, Swift believed that the aspect of human nature that promoted enthusiasm was pride and that the new intellectual developments of his day – such as Hobbes’s work – only helped to fuel that pride. Similar to the argument made in the Battle of the Books, Swift is stating that without tradition, Enthusiasm allows religious inspiration to be personally governed and controlled. T. S. Eliot points out that without the backbone of tradition, the common code of behavior, instead of imitating and approaching truth, becomes a "matter of habit" which exposes the common code to "prejudice and to change" ("Religion and Literature"). Swift drives home his point on how stupid he thinks Enthusiasm is with the criticism of Canting which was something that, “consists in skillfully adapting the Voice, to whatever Words the Spirit Delivers”. Since it is the embodiment of the Spirit, Swift argues, any sound that must come out from the orator must be from the Spirit, saying, “A Master Workman shall blow his Nose so powerfully, as to pierce the Hearts of his People, who are disposed to receive the Excrements of his Brain” (his snot) “with the same Reverence, as the Issue of it. Hawking, Spitting, and Belching, the Defects of other Mens Rhetorick, are the Flowers, and Figures, and Ornaments of his. For, the Spirit being the same in all, it is of no Import what Vehicle it is convey’d”.
All in all he’s really funny and witty, most likely ahead of his time, and still helpful navigating issues in our own time.
Memorable quotes:
- For, as health is but one thing, and has been always the same, whereas diseases are by the thousands, besides new and daily additions: so, all the virtues that have been ever in mankind, are to be counted upon a few fingers, but his follies and vices are innumerable, and time adds hourly to the heap
- But, as human happiness is of a very short duration, so in those days we’re human fashions, upon which it entirely depends
- For, to enter the Palace of learning at the great gate, requires an expense of time and forms; therefore men of much haste and little ceremony are content to get in by the back-door. For, the Arts are all in a flying march, and therefore more easily subdued by attacking them in the rear.
- First, it is generally affirm’d, or confess’d, that learning puffeth men up: and secondly, they proved it by the following syllogism; words are but wind; and learning is nothing but words, ergo, learning is nothing but wind.
- war begets poverty, poverty peace: peace maketh riches flow, (fate ne’er doth cease:) riches produceth Pride, Pride is War’s ground, War begets poverty, &c… (the world goes round)
- Religion being the best of things, it’s corruptions are likely to be the worst.
June 7, 2017
There is something empowering about panning an official classic author. I tend to buy into the `western canon" but this is substandard writing. The young Swift is given to very long build ups, and weak delivery. The satire lacks bite instead giving rather stock jabs and it appears that Swift got bored with his own major plot.
The tub of the title refers to a tradition I suspect invented by Swift, that whalers would toss a tub into the water in an effort to distract the whale and keep it from attacking the larger ship. The meaning of this invention would seem to be that writers, or at least Swift will toss in various distractions intended to misdirect the reader. It is unclear if this is a condemnation of the reader or a salute to the writer, or as Swift will tend to refer the "wit' of the writer.
The basic structure of the book is actuating sections reading as or labels as introductions and then the main plot story. There are more than one introductions to the story including a rather clever appeal for royal patronage. It is deliberately exaggerated and includes some hope for a satirical book. One of the better arguments for the particular value of the patronage he is petitioning is that the author has surveyed many artists, all of home place themselves as the best judge of art and the unnamed patron as th second best. Swift concludes that being second must mean that you are first. Least you cast this method of analysis aside, it was a very similar argument , made long after Swift, that would clinch the 1860 Republican Presidential nomination for a relatively unknown candidate, Abraham Lincoln.
The story inserted between the upcoming parades of introductions is a relatively flat satire based on a father who leaves as his legacy a fine coat to each of his three sons. The father is clearly meant to be read as God and the Sons the original Catholic Church, the Lutheran Protestants and the Church of England. There is a great deal of talk about salves and treatments and exclusive rights to sell such. By the end of the satire, Swift is merely listing the various religious wars and court intrigues over which would be the favored religion in England. Clearly Swift is too bored with his own invention or in a rush to publish.
Among the chapter introduction is at least one almost clever theory that uses the medical language of the day to indicate that those folks we would label as being `Full of S**T" as suffering from an unrelieved quantity of vapors originating from the lower areas. So not just gas bags, but melodious ones.
Getting to the rare punch lines involves shoveling through a particularly ponderous writing style. I want to believe this is deliberate, meaning another satirical jab directed at the style of his time. Mostly it is just words to no purpose and with no humor.
If you read A Tale of a Tub, perhaps as assigned reading the foot notes will aid comprehension. If you goal is to read Swift books from many parts of his career, that is about the only reason to voluntarily read this book. For the rest, please do not judge Johnathan Swift by A Tale of the Tub.
The tub of the title refers to a tradition I suspect invented by Swift, that whalers would toss a tub into the water in an effort to distract the whale and keep it from attacking the larger ship. The meaning of this invention would seem to be that writers, or at least Swift will toss in various distractions intended to misdirect the reader. It is unclear if this is a condemnation of the reader or a salute to the writer, or as Swift will tend to refer the "wit' of the writer.
The basic structure of the book is actuating sections reading as or labels as introductions and then the main plot story. There are more than one introductions to the story including a rather clever appeal for royal patronage. It is deliberately exaggerated and includes some hope for a satirical book. One of the better arguments for the particular value of the patronage he is petitioning is that the author has surveyed many artists, all of home place themselves as the best judge of art and the unnamed patron as th second best. Swift concludes that being second must mean that you are first. Least you cast this method of analysis aside, it was a very similar argument , made long after Swift, that would clinch the 1860 Republican Presidential nomination for a relatively unknown candidate, Abraham Lincoln.
The story inserted between the upcoming parades of introductions is a relatively flat satire based on a father who leaves as his legacy a fine coat to each of his three sons. The father is clearly meant to be read as God and the Sons the original Catholic Church, the Lutheran Protestants and the Church of England. There is a great deal of talk about salves and treatments and exclusive rights to sell such. By the end of the satire, Swift is merely listing the various religious wars and court intrigues over which would be the favored religion in England. Clearly Swift is too bored with his own invention or in a rush to publish.
Among the chapter introduction is at least one almost clever theory that uses the medical language of the day to indicate that those folks we would label as being `Full of S**T" as suffering from an unrelieved quantity of vapors originating from the lower areas. So not just gas bags, but melodious ones.
Getting to the rare punch lines involves shoveling through a particularly ponderous writing style. I want to believe this is deliberate, meaning another satirical jab directed at the style of his time. Mostly it is just words to no purpose and with no humor.
If you read A Tale of a Tub, perhaps as assigned reading the foot notes will aid comprehension. If you goal is to read Swift books from many parts of his career, that is about the only reason to voluntarily read this book. For the rest, please do not judge Johnathan Swift by A Tale of the Tub.
September 3, 2011
An excellent early work from Swift (who also wrote Gulliver's Travels). This was meant as a satire on religious strife and hypocrisy (told as the story of three brothers: [Saint] Peter, Martin [Luther], and Jack [John Calvin]), with a smattering of other critiques mixed in. The religious satire rang very true for me, having grown up in a very religious environment where people decried the justifications and muddlings of other denominations, even as their own justifications and muddlings were apparent. A few of the other critiques are a bit esoteric or niche.
September 25, 2022
Again, just another British classic that in hindsight isn't bad at all. I just really couldn't get into it. Old English books just don't seem to be my thing. This one in particular I just thought it was all over the place and yet, at the same time, not super interesting. Swift is a wonderful writer, I just didn't care for this personally.
Maybe some day I'll give it another shot.
Maybe some day I'll give it another shot.
May 31, 2011
I am sorry, I guess I do not appreciate satire!! Glad I read it, will not read again.
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December 23, 2013?
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