Tag Archives: Jonathan Swift

Lit Heals By Keeping Us Off Balance

By Robin Bates | Published: January 8, 2024

Different literary techniques have been used over the centuries to keep us on our toes.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Dispossessed, Gulliver's Travels, Left Hand of Darkness, Thomas More, Ursula K Le Guin, Utopia | Comments closed

Swift Understood Trumpian Fascism

By Robin Bates | Published: November 14, 2023

Trump’s use of “vermin” to characterize his enemies is fascist talk. “Gulliver’s Travels” shows where such talk can lead.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged American fascism, dehumanization, Donald Trump, Fascism, Gulliver's Travels | Comments closed

When News Resembles an Onion Headline

By Robin Bates | Published: October 4, 2022

A recent case of an American man arrested for parodying a police department elicited a supportive brief from “The Onion.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged conspiracy theories, Mark Twain, Modest Proposal, Onion, parody, satire | Comments closed

O’Connor and Swift on the Death of Others

By Robin Bates | Published: July 28, 2022

Friday While losing my mother at 96 is definitely not like Julian losing his mother in Flannery O’Connor’s “All That Rises Must Converge,” I can relate somewhat to his feelings of being adrift once she is gone. In his case, he is entirely dependent upon her, and embarrassed by her, and resentful of his inability […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "All that Rises Must Converge", "Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift", death and dying, Flannery O'Connor | Comments closed

Swift on How to Ignore 115,000 Deaths

By Robin Bates | Published: June 11, 2020

Trump and others appear to be shrugging off the 115,000 (and counting) Covid-19 deaths in America. Gulliver in Book IV shows similar insensitivity.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged COVID-19, Donald Trump, Gulliver's Travels | Comments closed

Trump’s Modest Proposal

By Robin Bates | Published: March 31, 2020

It may be April Fools’ Day, but there are Republicans who are advocating a version of Jonathan Swift’s “Modest Proposal.” For real.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged COVID-19, Modest Proposal, poverty | Comments closed

It’s a Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

By Robin Bates | Published: March 22, 2020

For those of us living in the lull before the COVID-19 storm, Swift’s “Description of a City Shower” captures what we’re experiencing–and about to experience.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Description of a City Shower", COVID19, pandemics | Comments closed