“Sweet Tale of Swift” in brief
“The Tale of the Barrel” is one of the first pamphlets written by Jonathan Swift, however, unlike the “Battle of Books” that was created around the same period, where it was mainly about subjects of literary character, “The Tale of the Barrel,” with its relatively small volume, contains, as it seems, practically all conceivable aspects and manifestations of human life. Although, of course, its main focus is anti-religious, or rather anti-church. It is not for nothing that the book, published seven years after its creation, was included by the Pope in the Index prohibitorum. Swift, however, and from the ministers of the Anglican church, was delivered.
Retelling the “plot” of the book, belonging to the pamphlet genre, is obviously ungrateful and meaningless. It is noteworthy, however, that in the absence of a “plot” in the usual sense of the word, in the absence of action, heroes, intrigue, Swift’s book is read as
The construction of a pamphlet at first glance may seem rather chaotic, confusing, the author deliberately confuses his reader. The structure of the pamphlet breaks up into two apparently unrelated parts: the “Tale of the Barrel” – the story of three brothers: Peter, Jack and Martin – and a series of digressions, each of which has its own theme and its addressee. Thus, one of them is called “retreat concerning critics”, the other is “retreat into praise of retreats”, another one is “a digression about the origin, usefulness and success of insanity in human society”,
So, in the first section, entitled “Introduction”, the addressees of his sarcasm are the judges and orators, actors and spectators, in short, all those who either utter something, and others that hearken to, opening their mouths with admiration. In many sections of his pamphlet, Swift creates a murderous parody of modern science, pseudo-learning, while masterfully owning the gift of perverted verbiage. Brilliantly, at the same time, he knows how to show that behind this stringing of words lies the emptiness and paucity of thought – a motif that is modern at all times, like all other thoughts and motifs of the Swift pamphlet, which has by no means turned into the four centuries that separate us from the moment of creation, in the “museum exhibit”. No, Swift’s pamphlet is alive – because all the human weaknesses and vices against which he is directed are alive.
It is noteworthy that the pamphlet, published anonymously, was written on behalf of the supposedly equally shamelessly illiterate scholar-redneca, which Swift despised, but his voice, his own voice, is quite perceptible through this mask, moreover, the opportunity to hide behind it gives a pamphlet even more sharpness and spice. This duality-two-facedness, the reception of “flip-flops” in general is very inherent in the author’s manner of Swift-pamphleteer, in it the unusual paradoxicalness of his mind, with all the jaundice, anger, causticity and sarcasm, is especially acute. This is a rebuke to the writers-the “sixpence” writers, one-day writers who write frankly “for sale,” claiming the title and position of the chroniclers of their time, but who are in fact merely the creators of countless self-portraits. It is about these ” saves of the nation “and carriers of the highest truth, Swift writes:” In different meetings where these speakers speak, nature itself taught the listeners to stand with their mouths open and directed parallel to the horizon, so that they intersect with a perpendicular line dropped from the zenith to the center of the earth. In such a situation, listeners, if they are standing in a thick crowd, each takes home some share, and nothing or almost nothing disappears. “
But, of course, the main addressee of the satire of Swift is the church, whose history he presents in an allegorically allegorical form in the main narrative, which is a pamphlet and is actually called the “Tale of the Barrel.” He sets out the story of the division of the Christian church into Catholic, Anglican and Protestant as the story of three brothers: Peter, Jack and Martin, whose father, when he died, left them a will. Under the “testament” Swift means the New Testament – from here to the end of the pamphlet begins its incomparable and unprecedented blasphemy. “Delezhka”, which occurs between the “brothers”, is completely devoid of the “divine halo,” it is completely primitive and boils down to the division of spheres of influence, speaking in modern language, and also – and this is the main thing – to finding out who ” brothers “is a true follower of the” father, “that is, the closest to the foundations and foundations of the Christian religion.” Overlooking “the abandoned” will “is described in a parable allegorically and reduces to purely practical questions. from the foundations of the Christian dogma are reduced to the unimaginable adornment of the “caftan” by all sorts of galloons, aiguilts and other tinsel – a very transparent hint at the splendor of the Catholic ritual and rituals, while Peter at some point deprives the brother opportunity to see testament, he hides it from them, becoming the only true heir But “Kaftan motive” appears in Swift no accident. “Is religion a cloak, honesty is not a pair of boots worn in the mud, not pride coat,
Clothing – as the embodiment of the essence of man, not only his class and professional affiliation, but also his vanity, stupidity, complacency, hypocrisy, aspiration for hypocrisy – and here the attendants of the church – and actors, government officials – and visitors to brothels are closing in for Swift. In the words of Swift as if Russian folk wisdom comes to life: “by the clothes they meet…” – so, in his opinion, “dressing” plays an important role, which determines much, if not all, of the one who wears it.
Completely “defrocked” with Peter, Swift takes over Jack. Unlike Peter, who adorned the “caftan” with a multitude of all sorts of tinsel, Jack decided to completely deprive the “caftan” of all this external gilding – one problem: the decorations so joined with the cloth that, furiously tearing them away from the meat “, he turned the” caftan “into solid holes: thus, the extremism and fanaticism of Brother Jack differed little from the fanaticism of the followers of Peter:” … this ruined all his plans to isolate himself from Peter and so strengthened the relatives of the brothers that even students and followers often mixed them up… “
Having finally obtained the text of the “will”, Jack turned him into a permanent “guide to action”, not taking a step until he checked with the “canonical text”: “Enthusiastic, he decided to use the will both in the most important and the most insignificant circumstances of life. ” And even being in someone else’s house, he needed to “remember the exact text of the will to ask the way to the courier…”. Is it necessary to add anything else to characterize Swift blasphemy, next to which the anti-religious statements of Voltaire and other famous freethinkers seem just holy stories of kind grandfathers?!
Swift’s virtuosity is in his endless mimicry: the pamphlet is not only a terrific accusatory document, but it is also a brilliant literary game, where the polyphonic narrator combined with numerous and multi-layered hoaxes creates an amazing fusion. In the text there are many names, names, specific people, events and stories, in connection with and about which one or another part was written. However, in order to fully appreciate this unquestionable literary masterpiece, it is not necessary to delve into all these subtleties and details. The specifics were gone, taking them to oblivion, along with their scholarly treatises and other literary and other research that had sunk into oblivion, and the book of Swift remained – for it is by no means just a pamphlet written “for the evil of the day, but truly an encyclopaedia of morals. At the same time, unlike the long and voluminous novels of contemporaries of Swift – writers of the Enlightenment, absolutely devoid of the element of edification. The ease of genius is one of the most important sensations that Swift’s book produces – a pamphlet “for all time.”
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