A Tale of a Tub - Johnathan Swift

Hello Learners,

This blog includes presentation, thinking activity, material and quiz on “A Tale of a Tub” by Johnathan Swift.

Jonathan Swift's Tale of the Tub is a brilliant failure. It is a prose satire intended as a defense of the Anglican church, but it was widely interpreted by contemporary readers as an attack on all religion. At the time of writing it, Swift was a junior Anglican clergyman hoping for substantial preferment in the Church. The appearance of the Tale, and its assumed message, was a serious obstacle to his promotion.

One of the things that makes the Tale difficult to interpret for that the work attacks multiple things of things at the same time: it's an allegory about religious differences; it's a satire on pedantry and false scholarship; it's a parody of the contemporary book trade; it has attached to it two further treatises, the 'Battle of the Books', and the 'Mechanical Operation of the Spirit'. This essay will examine notions of authorship, intertextuality, originality, and the relationship between parody and allegory, and try to determine how all these components fit together.

Click here to read more about this text.

Here’s a brief presentation on “A Tale of a Tub” discussed in the class. Go through the presentation and reading material to complete the thinking task and quiz.

A Tale of a Tub from Department of English MKBU

CLICK HERE to appear in the quiz.

Thinking Activity:-

H1.) How far do you think Digression is necessary?

I 2.)Identify any one movie/web series/song/poem/novel which talks about the sensitive topic like religion. Write in brief about it and explain what kind questions are raised through that work.

HHappy Learning!!!

Comments

The Mountains are calling and I must go… #AcademicTour #Junagadh #2019

The Mountains are calling and I must go… Recently I had a delightful experience of visiting Junagadh for Academic tour organized by Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University. Being a Research Scholar and a Faculty member, this was my first tour in a different role. It is said that a physician treats but nature heals. It is absolutely true. Stuck in health issues for so many months, and finally the mountains were calling and I had to go. I feel rejuvenate after this trip. The best part about academic tour is that you not only visit historical and important places, but you visit so many academic Institutions, meet so many learned teachers and students. This tour was planned for two days; 5 th and 6 th February. We started on 5 th early morning and were back on 6 th at night. There we visited many marvelous places and I would like to separate it as given beneath. As it is academic visit, let me start with it. Academic Institutions...

"RIP"; Rest in Peace those who are Alive....

Hello Friends, After a long time I am writing here. Hope you all are fine. This time I have come up with a different interpretation of the phrase “RIP”. Mostly this phrase “RIP”; Rest in Peace is used for the people who are no more. We use this phrase to give sympathy towards the departed soul. The soul may get peace wherever it travels. No one exactly knows where the soul travels. Sometimes this phrase is used out of care and sometimes just for show off on social media. While sitting alone near a cemetery, a thought struck in my mind. Why do we use RIP only for dead people????? We can also use it for those who are alive. Many time people use RIP when a person is dead. The same people might have harassed the dead person when he is alive. So what’s the point of “RIP”? Suppose in the day time you behave very badly with someone. Is he/she going to get sound and peaceful sleep at night? The dead person will never come back so we just say “RIP”. Of course ever...

" Siddhartha" Hermann Hesse - Book Review

Hello Readers, The growing cases of Covid-19 and lockdown had and has been making us go through tremendous stress. The stress itself is making our world upside down, rather than the problem. At this hour it necessary to indulge ourselves in something which allows us to be at peace. An avid reader in me got the perfect time to read books apart from research and syllabus. I picked a long awaited book from my library; “Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse. Gautam Buddha, his teachings and life has always fascinated me a lot. So had to grab it without fail. Let me give you all a quick review of this book. Something about the author :- Hermann Hesse is an amazing writer from Germany. He wrote many novels and essays; best known for “Siddhartha”. He won the prestigious Noble Prize for Literature in 1946. Hesse began writing Siddhartha in December 1919 in Switzerland. During his childhood, he frequently heard stories about the beauty of spirituality in Indian Culture, from his father and mot...

Vaidehi Hariyani

Search This Blog