from Part VI - Social and Intellectual Topics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 May 2024
Much of Swift’s work is informed by an interest in food, together with a sharp awareness of how it might be spoiled, adulterated, or withheld. This chapter investigates the degree to which Swift uses food as an index of honesty and generosity. In his writings, continental cookery is associated with moral and aesthetic perversity of a distinctly modern flavour. The chapter shows that, in both A Tale of a Tub and A Modest Proposal, the common sense associated with English Protestantism (and emblematised by pudding and roast meat) is pitted against modern, continental slipperiness (emblematised by food whose true identity is suppressed or withheld).
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.