Swift's ferocious, landmark eighteenth-century political satire on how to solve a famine in Ireland.
First, I have to say that I adore these little black classics collection from Penguin.
A modest proposal is not the only short text in this short edition, there are :
- A Meditation upon a Broom-Stick (according to the style and manner of the honourable Robert Boyle's meditations)
- A Description of a City-Shower
- A Short View of the State of Ireland
- A Modest Proposal
- An Examination of Certain Abuses, Corruptions, and Enormities, in the City of Dublin.
I only expected the Modest proposal, so the other texts were a bonus, with a hilarious opening Meditation upon a Broom-Stick ! I'd only read A Modest Proposal last century (again) so it was a re-read, but a first with the others.
It was a very quick read and I shut the book being, at the same time, appalled by the situation in Ireland back then and chuckling on Swift's dark humour. I wouldn't have liked to be on the other side of his wit !
It's also funny, thinking back about this, how Ireland at these times (and afterward) was mainly defended by the Anglo-Irish.
I'm looking forward to reading other books by him (I read Gulliver's travels last century and don't remember much), especially The Battle of the Books - the title looks good !
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