A Modest Appraisal: Swift scholarship and criticism, 1945–65

Abstract

MORE than two hundred years ago Swift sailed into his rest, but he has been exciting the scholars and the critics to activity ever since. At no time has this lack of repose been more apparent than in our own period, which in the present instance we may date from 1945. Since the close of the Second World War the sheer number of books, essays, and articles which have appeared devoted to various aspects of Swift and ranging in tone and manner from the popular to the austerely scholarly — not to mention the new, authoritative editions which Swift’s modern editors have been giving us — is overwhelming. The truth seems to be that something approaching a Swift Industry has been establishing itself in our midst — a minor affair, undoubtedly, in comparison with the gigantic Shakespeare Industry, but awe-inspiring nevertheless.