Swift was born in Dublin, Ireland, but both parents are English. Unfortunately, he lost his father 7 months before he was born. For this reason, Swift, who was raised by his uncle, has been living a life of sustenance. In 1688 he received his bachelor's degree at the prestigious Trinity College in Dublin. Swift returned to Ireland to serve as a pastor in the Diocese of Laleku. Gradually, he had frequent contacts with English politics, wrote a few trivial political pamphlets, and mildly defended some politicians in the Whig party. Partisanship, rival squeezing, and political swirls have distanced Swift from her chances of promotion in the Church of England. Because of the anti-Irish policy of the Whig party, Swift was very dissatisfied with it, and wrote many political articles criticizing the greed and militancy within the Whig party. He joined the Tories in London, fought for equal treatment for the Church of Ireland, and published "The Conduct of the Union Army" against the "Battle of the Protestant Succession". With the publication of the anti-war article and the end of the war, Swift became almost the most influential citizen in the whole of Britain, a work that nineteenth-century historians say "destroyed Marlborough, the leader of the Whig party. ) sword in hand". While his arguments were ostensibly in the service of the Tories, Swift was actually attacking the colonial war. His political opinion played a big role in British policy. In 1713, the war between Britain and France was armistice, and the two countries signed a contract, which is still called "Swift Peace" today.
Swift's greatest achievement in life was to fight for the right to national liberty in Ireland. England banned the export of Irish wool in 1699 and 1719, depriving the Irish Parliament and the courts of the last liberty. Faced with this kind of behavior, Swift used his powerful language and appeal to start a forced revolt. During this period of time devoted to the Irish people's struggle for freedom and independence, Swift published a series of highly militant essays, his actions aroused the appeal of the masses, and also caused panic in England. While the Governor-General from England offered a £300 reward for the arrest of the publisher of Swift's battle letter, not a single Dubliner was betraying the hero for the pound. The British colonial policy had to be restrained under such circumstances. Swift was deeply loved by the Irish people, who protected him when he was arrested by the authorities for his anonymous works; when Swift returned from his last visit to England in 1726, people rang the bells and raised fire and surrounded him with a guard of honor as he returned to his home.
From the author's letters in his later years, it can be seen that Swift's evening scene is bleak. "Old age, headaches, deafness, memory loss, anger and hatred of people and things," Swift was diagnosed as mentally ill three years before he died. His funeral was secret and simple, and according to his wishes, the epitaph was written in Latin, engraved on the black monument, and painted in vivid gold.
Some 40 years after Swift's death, after the Irish House of Commons passed the Irish Declaration of Independence, Henry Gratton once shouted, "Swift's spirit in heaven, your spirit has triumphed! Ireland is now a nation." Today, in honor of Swift, dozens of hotels in Ireland bear the name Dreybill in his political pamphlet, The Letter from Dreybear.
During the politically turbulent years of 1720-1725, Swift completed the most important literary work of his life, Gulliver's Travels, which was published anonymously in 1726 with the protagonist's own account.
Gulliver, the protagonist in the novel, is upright, simple, and frank, and has certain knowledge of navigation and medicine. Since practicing medicine could not support his wife and children, he accepted the invitation of others to become a surgeon on a sailing ship. Thus, Gulliver began his voyage.
Gulliver was the first to arrive in Lilliput. At first, Lilliput was thought to be nothing like Britain, but it is actually a microcosm of Britain. The king is only a fingernail taller than his subjects, but he arrogantly claims to be the "ruler of the universe above his head", and decides the fate of the common people with his impermanent joy and anger. Officials do not need to have both ability and political integrity, as long as they jump rope high and persist for a long time, they can get high officials, rich salaries, brocade clothes and jade food. The two parties in Lilliput are marked by the height of the heel. Swift mirrors the British Tories and Whigs. And whether to crack the egg from the big end or the small end when eating eggs refers to the nonsense dispute between Catholics and Protestants about church rituals. For this mere dispute, it led to a civil war in the Lilliputian country, and even brought disaster to neighboring countries. Due to the police system and false accusations in Lilliput, Gulliver had to flee there. He returned to England smoothly and made a small fortune by selling cattle and sheep brought back from Lilliput.
Gulliver, who went to sea again, came to the country of adults. Although there are not many legal provisions and culturally advanced in that country, there is a kind of simplicity and natural beauty. The king was wise and upright, always caring for his subjects. In order to win the king's favor, Gulliver took the initiative to tell him about the technology of war and the invention of gunpowder. His compliments were full of flaws under the king's questioning. The king denounced the existence of malpractices, wars of aggression and legal injustice in England, and pointed out that the reason lies in the despicable selfishness of the human heart. The author subtly satirizes and ridiculed the various practical drawbacks of British society through the mouth of the king of the adult kingdom, thus pinning his longing for an ideal society. After a series of adventures, Gulliver returned home again.
In the third volume after that, Gulliver came to the flying island country again. The scientists there are divorced from the people and reality, and they engage in "scientific research" that is far from the limit. A little bit of rebellion will fly the island over the sky to block the sunlight, or land on its territory and crush the inhabitants into powder. With literary brushstrokes, the author raised ridicule and condemnation to the spiritual and cultural realm, implying the denial of British colonial policy.
Gulliver also travels to a magician's country, where he traces the politics of ancient Rome and contrasts the British system. At this point, his thinking has changed from supporting the monarchy to supporting the republic. However, he only praised the patriarchal society in its "natural state". If this view is still a "romantic retrogression", Gulliver's description of the Chima Kingdom points out the corruption of civilized society on human beings, showing that only those who live in a natural state are pure and noble. This view was later carried forward by Rousseau in France and became the origin of romantic literature.
In the last volume of the novel, Captain Gulliver arrives in Chima. Here he was attacked by a humanoid beast "Yehu" and was rescued by a wise horse. It turned out that in this country, Zhima is the main citizen, kind and rational, while "Yehu" is greedy and aggressive. The author uses Yehu to represent the greed and corruption of human beings, while the Zhima symbolizes the yearning for kindness and beauty. It goes without saying that if human beings fall, they will be no different from animals, how sad it is! In the end, Captain Gulliver returned to England and became friends with horses for life.
There are many different views in the academic circle on the definition of the ideological tendency of this book. The translator, Mr. Wang Zuoliang, is quite objective. He said: "This book touched all kinds of readers. Children liked the first two stories. Historians saw the profile of the British government at that time. Thinkers studied the author's attitude towards culture and science. Taking anti-war and anti-colonial words, even avant-garde theorists regard it as a precursor to black humor, while the general reader appreciates the fantastic and interesting plot, and its wide-ranging and profound satire. This book is a travelogue, mythology , an allegory, a blueprint for an ideal country, and an experimental novel."
Gulliver's Travels was a peak of satire art in the 18th century. The author's lifelong hatred for tyranny and sincere sympathy for the oppressed made He broke through the smugness and smugness of the aristocracy, using irony as a powerful weapon to attack injustice, and take deadly revenge on the corruption of his own class.
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