Just Finished Reading: A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift [53pp] 

This consisted of five short articles of which ‘A Modest Proposal’ was the longest. As the author was writing in the early-mid 18th century several things immediately jumped out at me. First was the sometimes-odd spelling. As far as I know, what we now regard as modern ‘correct’ spelling is a comparatively recent affair. I’ve noticed this a few times in Classics including some very odd spelling in works of Jane Austen. Personally, I like the fact that such things are left in unchanged. The most prominent difference between ages is the seemingly random use of Capital letters (for emphasis?) and what seems like the overuse of punctuation. None of that makes for a smooth or fast read – although you do get used to it in longer novels. I used to struggle with older text styles but, after some effort, started to actually enjoy it. 

The first thing I enjoyed here was a short – 3 page – piece called ‘A Description of a City-Shower' which amused me with the descriptions of public behaviour during a random downpour. I particularly liked the observation of women ‘shopping’ without any intention of buying anything just to get out of the rain. As someone who has done exactly that it all felt very modern and normal. 

The titled ‘Modest Proposal’ was a piece of political satire that, I imagine, was quite harsh at the time and still, even after around 300 years, managed to retain at least some of its dark humour (or that might be me to be honest). I can certainly imagine the political ‘elites’ reading it, chuckling, and then thinking twice about it – just as the author no doubt intended.  

Whilst interesting for a number of reasons, this brief booklet doesn’t really ‘translate’ well over the centuries. I’d be the first to admit that my knowledge of Britain in the 18th century is limited (to say the least) so I definitely missed some of the charged rhetoric aimed at people who I’ve never heard of before. I think also that the power of political satire, looking back so long, seems a pale imitation of what we’re used to today. Or maybe our satire is just less sophisticated or subtle. One thing this slim volume has done is to prompt me to read more about the time it came from – so that’s a win, I think.