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II. THE SATIRICAL TRADITION

- one of the most significant representatives of the satirical tradition isJONATHAN SWIFT

- his satire is a relative pure form, with clear objectives- his works are critical views on the contemporarysociety

- Swift follows the traditions ofvoyageliterature- writes in a plainstyle oftravelogues, in a simplelanguage, simple syntaxand diction [nyelvezet](a plain man telling a plain tale)

- but meaning is suggested behind the lines- a complicated and biting message, insidious [alattomos] intentions hide

behind the simplicity- his scornful and contemptuous [lenz] attitude to the society is obvious

Gullivers Travels (1726)- is a philosophic-satiric novel- a satire on human nature

- a parody of the literary sub-genre "travellers' tales"- a philosophical novel, almost unique in England- a satirical view of the state ofEuropean government, and of petty differences

between religions- an inquiry into whether man is inherently corrupt or whether men are

corrupted- a restatement of the older "ancients vs. moderns" controversy appears in

the novel

- it is a configuration offour books, in accord with the journeys- the muthos is: the voyages to, and adventures in Lilliput, Brobdingnag,

Laputa, and the land of the Houyhnhnms- the plot structure follows the voyages to these countries: after every journey,

the traveller places the countries on the map: it is parallel of the timesscientic thinking

Book 1-2- in case ofLILLIPUT(land of midgets) and BROBDINGNAG (land of giants),

there is a question ofperspectives, and the travellers schizophrenicposition; the difference of the narrators perspective is created by size

- in Lilliput, he is a giant, he is feared of; in BROBDINGNAG, he is a midget, heis ridiculed

- the dianoia behind the plot structure is the irony of perspectives

- irony of perspectives is also projected on the matters the individuals dealwith (e.g. the contemporarywars of England; the WhigTory battles; allthese contemporary matters are ridiculed in different ways

- the political flavour is in the first two books present, they are politicalsatires

Book 3- LAPUTA is a floating island ofphilosophers (after Aristophanes Clouds)- the satire is aimed at contemporary scientific and philosophicalmatters

Book 4

- in the land ofHORSES, there live the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos- the main issue is the quasi-animal status of the man

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- this book is the strongest and most bitter in its flavour, coming from the fact,that everything is presentedfrom the Horses perspective

- the defamiliarization, its techniques, also from the aspect of the Horses- describing a familiar thing in the ordinary way makes the thing hardly

recognizable; the particular on it becomes not visible- so here, even Gulliver is defamiliarized: he begins to forget he is a human

being- the scene, when the Horses collect empirical data of him, shows the effect of

empirism: human being is described in terms of animals

- in the novel, there is a major CONTRAST of two types of creatures: Horsesand Yahoos

- to this opposition, value judgements are connected- human faculties (reason and instinct) are divided between the two species- normally, their combination is essential for being human- gift ofreason is given to Horses that is a criticism of the pure Augustan

rationalism: Swift points out its defects (with reason and rationalism cannot

everything be solved)-Yahoos have all the instinct part, only focussing on bodily pleasures, theyhave quasi animal status; they are too limited

- in both cases, Swift shows up a distorting mirrors to the human nature:neither is a solution, the combination of two is healthy

- Swift had misogynist attitude; the description offemaleYahoos echoes thisin certain places

- the Augustan positives are also in the focus: the Horses are presented morepositive but it is not good; we do not seem to have a real identification withthem

-they have a placid [nyjas, szeld] life of reason; however, we have no

sympathy at all towards them (they may have all the reason, but the Yahooshave all the life)

- the reader is in a peculiar situation: he is continually confronted with thehuman equivalent of what he reads about

- Gulliver can never be part of their society; he goes home and surroundshimself with horses

- horses have not feelings, not even words for feelings

III. THE PICARESQUE TRADITION

- one of the most important representatives of the picaresque tradition isHENRY FIELDING

- his model was Cervantes, but the divergencies are more significant betweenthem

- Fielding has integrated other influences as well- he had a career as a dramatist; he was a leading satirist of the London

stage- had also talent for the burlesque and parody:

- Tom Thumb; The Coffee-House Politician;Pasquin: A Dramatic Satire of the Times;The Historical Register; The Grub Street Opera

- his favouritetarget was politics: some of his work was savagely critical ofthe contemporary government under Sir Robert Walpole

- the Theatrical Licensing Act of1737 is alleged to be a

direct result of his activities- after its passing, political satire on the stage was

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virtually impossible- in 1741, he turned to the prose fiction- nevertheless, the dramatic touch stayed: the dramatic character was always

typical of his narrative technique- his style was elevatedon purpose, wanted to point out the main nature of

things- he intended to get closer to classicalnorms- he wrote comicromance (with quest theme) and comicepic-poem in prose

(with elevated diction and litist rhetoric)

his INNOVATIONS were:- the metadrama (e.g. The Authors Farce and The

Historical Register)- the self-reflexive narrative, the authorial self-

awarenesshis NOVELS are:-An Apology for the Life of Mrs ShamelaAndrews

(1741-2)- is a parody of Richardsons tearful and sentimentalnovel Pamela (anti-Pamela-ism)

-Joseph Andrews (1742) about Shamelas brother- a rake version ofShamela: creates the male

equivalent and the typical character of the rake(rogue); here he establish his style

- contains loose episodes- muthos and process ofnarration are ofmeandering

[elkalandoz] type

Tom Jones (1749)- is Fieldings most famous novel, a brilliant, outstanding work- is an epic novel; a comic romance, rooted in the narrative conventions of

romance and epic- this is a novel ofliterary experience, a to-be-read-twice (at least) novel

- his hero is an un-heroic hero an ordinary person- the plot is full ofintricacy and structural irony- consists ofthreeparts; they are literary parallels of the Hogarthian

progresses (series The Harlots Progress and The Rakes Progress [Azaranyifj tja])

- a serious TENOR (the miserable life) associated with an apparently non-

serious VEHICLE