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A TALE OF A TUB Hardcover – 1953

by JONATHAN SWIFT (Author)
9 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover
  • Publisher: DENT (1953)
  • ASIN: B000S67LKS
  • Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,339,870 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
This is early Johnathan Swift- he did get better
By Phred on January 31, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
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.Read more ›
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Swift's Satire of Christian Churches
By TJC on December 18, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Like all of Swift's stories this one is built on a brilliant allegorical tale. It is the story of three bothers ( each representing a particular Christian church) receiving as a legacy from their father, a perfect but simple coat ( scripture) with instructions that they will be happy in life if they follow their father's will and leave their coat's unchanged. All three men Peter ( the Catholic Church), Jack ( Puritanism) and Martin ( the Anglican Church) begin in obedience but are eventually led to abandon the terms of the will in pursuit of Money, Pride and Ambition here portrayed as desirable women ( I'm sure modern feminists now see it as another myth from a "dead white guy")

Eventually the fall from grace is compounded by a desire to gain followers by adjusting doctrine to suit people's desires rather than God's, all the while hypocritically justifying each change through their authority as church leaders..

I recommend reading this old tale for its sheer wit and invention while, at the same time, cautioning readers that it is a times tough going. Swift liked to go off on lengthy tangents to satirize practices the modern reader just doesn't recognize. In that sense, it can be frustrating. My advice is to skim those parts until you can return to the basic story. Better yet, if you can find an abridged version, go with that.
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Tubbed Me the Wrong Way
By Martin M. Bodek on June 29, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I need a guide for the satirically perplexed. In the introduction to this guide, I need it explained to me why satire needs to be couched in metaphor. Along with this explanation, I need some sort of legend that shows me what each allegory means - and every time the allegory is mentioned, it needs to be footnoted again, because I can't keep track of it all in my head. The digressions and preachings were jarring and confusing as well. I had no idea what was going on, or what the author was trying to say, but it was short, so it's over.
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Perplexing and difficult, but well worth the read
By Julianne Quaine on January 2, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
The Tale of a Tub, a short book, was written by Swift to satirise and parody the poor quality and standard of writing at the beginning of the eighteenth century, religion in its diverse forms, with particular criticism of the more extremist Protestant groups of the time. The book takes the form of a story of three brothers, representing three religions, the papists, the Church of England and puritans and other extreme forms of Protestantism and how each uses their father's inheritance. There are numerous introductions, prefaces, digressions and asides as well as the narrative of the three brothers. In fact the narrative is probably less than half the book. The book was also written as part of an intellectual argument on the worth of ancient knowledge and writing ie Greek, Roman classical compared to modern. While Swift was defending the classics, he has written a modern book which can be seen as a precursor to other modern literature. This is #14 in 1001 books you must read before you die.
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Reading the editor's explanations and foot Notes first make the ...
By Marcial Lewin on October 1, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Reading the editor's explanations and foot
Notes first make the satire more clear.
Unfortunately they are lumped together at
the end of the Kindle version, not at the.

bottom of each page,making it cumbersome.
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