Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift.

Daniel Defoe, the founder of the early bourgeois realistic novel, was first and foremost, a journalist, and in many ways, the father of modern English periodicals. “The Review”, which he founded in 1704 and conducted until 1719 is regarded as the first English newspaper.

Defoe was born in London in a family of nonconformists. His father, a butcher, was wealthy enough to give his son a good education. Daniel was to become a priest in the Nonconformist Church, but on completing his education he decided to engage in business. He never was a success in it and went bankrupt several times. The only branch of business in which he proved successful was journalism and literature.

When Defoe was 24, he started writing pamphlets on questions of the hour. He wrote on the topics of Higher Education for women, the protection of seamen, the construction of motorways, the opening of saving banks, etc. Later he became editor of a magazine which supported his former enemies, the Tories. Defoe, like many other journalists of the day, served the Tories as well as the Whigs. This should not be accepted as a change of principle: though party strife was very bitter, there were no serious contradictions between the two parties at that time. When the Whigs came to power after the death of Queen Anne, Defoe began to serve the Whigs again.

In 1719 he tried his hand at another kind of literature-fiction, and wrote the novel he is now best known by, “The life and adventures of Robinson Crusoe”. Books about voyages and new discoveries were exceedingly popular in the first quarter of the 18^th century. A true story of a Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, which was published in one of the magazines, attracted Defoe’s attention. Selkirk had quarreled with his captain and was put ashore on a desert island near South America where he lived quite alone for four years. (Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe spent 26 years on an island).

At the beginning of the story Robinson is an in inexperienced youth, a rather light-minded boy, who develops into a strong-willed man, able to withstand all the dangers and difficulties of his unusual fate. Robinson’s most characteristic trait is his optimism. His motto in life is “never say die”. Another of Crusoe’s good qualities which saved him from despair, is his ability to put his whole heart in to everything he does. But at the same time “Robinson Crusoe” seems to be an ode to individualism: according to Defoe, a man can live by himself comfortably without any help.

Jonathan Swift, famous for his sharp tongue and sharper pen, was born in Dublin, of English parents aristocratic but poor. He received education at Dublin University, worked as a private secretary, and finally took religious orders in the Church of England and entered politics as a writer. Swift soon gained great influence among the Tories, and in 1713 he was appointed dean in Dublin.

Swift is best known for his satires; he was the most versatile of English satirists. His first great success, published anonymously in 1704, was “A tale of a Tub”, a biting satire on the various sects of the Church. “The Battle of the Books” was a contribution to a literary controversy “A modest proposal” represents his political defense of the Irish.

“Gulliver’s Travels”, his masterpiece, is a satire on humanity in general, and shows the truth of Swift’s observation about himself: that he hated mankind but loved humans as individuals.

It is ironic that a book written to satirize everything from the king to all mankind should today be looked on by most people as a book for young readers. Because Swift made use of pygmies and giants, the first part of the book can easily be read as an entertaining fairy tale for children, who like it for its strange adventure. Swift’s main purpose in this tale, however, was to poke fun at human vanities. Through his clever use of a story which can thus be read on two levels: one of storytelling interest and one of underlying symbolic meaning.

“Gulliver’s Travels” was published anonymously, purporting to be the true adventures of a certain Lemuel Gulliver. The opening chapter contributes to the illusion of reality by its details of Gulliver’s past life and circumstances of the voyage and shipwreck, all told on the most matter-of-fact way. Then Gulliver suddenly finds himself in the land of the Lilliputants, who are only six inches tall. The narrative is so direct and simple, it so carefully observes mathematical proportions that it becomes almost realistic and reasonable in its absurdity.

Gulliver’s second voyage takes him to the land of giants, where the situation of the previous trip is exactly reversed.

The third voyage to the country of clever horses is the most biting satire of all. In short, the land of the horses is an ideal state.

Swift did not see any sure way of making people happy, - hence his pessimism, which led to bitterness and biting satire in the allegorical portrayal of contemporary life which we find in “Gulliver’s Travels”.

The greatest merit of the novel lies in the satirical description al all the faults and vices of the society of the time. Under the cloak of what seems pure fantasy, Swift attacks the politics of the time, religious prejudices, Wars of Ambition, and the absurdity of many aspects of science. The author presents the most improbable situations with the utmost gravity, and makes the reader believe them.

Swift’s ideas expressed in “Gulliver’s Travels” had a great influence on the writers who came after him. The work has become popular in many languages . Like Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe”, it has the merit both of amusing children and making grown ups think.