FAMOUS AUTHORS

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Free Audio Books
  • Famous Inventors
  • Suggest
  • Contact

Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift

The author of the classic Gulliver’s Travels (1726), Jonathan Swift was a major figure of English literature. Also a satirist, cleric and political pamphleteer, Swift was born in Dublin, Ireland on November 30, 1667, seven months after the death of his father. Deprived of a bread earner and father, the family became very poor and had to rely on the aid of relatives to survive. Jonathan did not lead a healthy childhood, suffering from Meniere’s disease which causes dizziness, vertigo, nausea, and hearing loss affecting the inner ear. Early in age, Jonathan was sent to live with his uncle, Godwin Swift who supported him and gave him the best education possible.

Swift attended the Kilkenny Grammar School from 1674 to 1682 and later enrolled in the Trinity College in Dublin where he earned a B.A. degree. Although Swift wanted to continue studying for a M.A. degree, he was unable to do so due to political unrest during the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Upon moving to Leicester, England, Swift took up a job working as a secretary to Sir William Temple, a retired diplomat. Living at his home in Moore Park, Surrey, Swift was introduced to a number of politically influential people. Also at Moore Park, Swift, then 22 years of age met Stella, daughter of another employee at Moore Park who was only 6 years old. They formed an affectionate friendly relationship and Swift became her tutor and mentor. Sir William Temple helped Swift gain admission into Oxford University using his influential connections. In 1692, Swift graduated with a M.A. degree.

After returning from Ireland where he served as an Anglican priest for a year, Swift was requested by Temple to assist him in writing his memoirs, managing and publishing his work after his death. Swift started work on his own writing during this time as well and wrote The Battle of the Books (1704).

In 1700, Swift was appointed Chaplin to Lord Berkeley and in 1701 Trinity College Dublin made him a Doctor of Divinity. In 1704, Swift published his humorous take on religion, A Tale of the Tub. Swift became an active figure of the Dublin society and politics becoming a blunt critic in efforts of improving Ireland. After joining the Tories in 1710, Swift wrote many noted political pamphlets including The Conduct of the Allies (1711), The Public Spirit of the Whigs (1714), Meditation on a Broomstick (1703) and A Modest Proposal.

In 1713, Swift formed the literary club, Scriblerus along with Alexander Pope and others. He also became the dean of St. Patrick’s in Dublin. Swift continued writing, often under a pseudonym, an example being Draiper Letters (1724) under the name M.B. Draiper. Swift also published his masterpiece, Gulliver’s Travels under the pen name Lemuel Gulliver in 1726. An immediate best-seller, the book has inspired many theater and film adaptations. The novel represents the culmination of Swift’s years spent in politics with Whigs and Tories and also deals with socio-political issues hidden between the lines.

Swift drowned in grief when his beloved Stella died in 1728. Swift’s health had already started to decline due to Alzhimer’s. Jonathan Swift passed away on October 19, 1745. He is buried beside Stella in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin.

Buy Books by Jonathan Swift

Google
Custom Search

Famous Authors

  • John Updike
  • Jonathan Safran Foer
  • Jonathan Swift
  • Jorge Luis Borges
  • José Saramago
  • Joseph Conrad
  • Joseph Heller
  • Jostein Gaarder
  • Joyce Carol Oates
  • Juan Rulfo
  • Jules Verne
  • Julian Barnes
  • Karl May
  • Kazuo Ishiguro
  • Ken Follett
  • Khaled Hosseini
  • Khalil Gibran
  • Knut Hamsun
  • Kurt Vonnegut
  • Laura Ingalls Wilder
  • Lee Child
  • Leo Tolstoy
  • Lewis Carroll
  • Lord Byron
  • Louise Hay
  • Malcolm Gladwell
  • Marcel Proust
  • Margaret Mitchell
  • Margaret Peterson Haddix
  • Marguerite Yourcenar
  • Mario Puzo
  • Mario Vargas Llosa
  • Mark Twain
  • Martin Amis
  • Mary Higgins Clark
  • Mary Shelley
  • Maurice Sendak
  • Maya Angelou
  • Michael Crichton
  • Michel De Montaigne
  • Michel Houellebecq
  • Miguel De Cervantes
  • Mitch Albom
  • Napoleon Hill
  • Neil Gaiman
  • Niall Ferguson
  • Nicholas Sparks
  • Nick Hornby
  • Nicole Krauss
  • Nora Roberts
  • Norman Mailer
  • Oscar Wilde
  • Ovid
  • P. D. James
  • Patricia Cornwell
  • Paul Auster
  • Paul Celan
  • Paul Valéry
  • Paulo Coelho
  • Peter Hitchens
  • Philip Pullman
  • Pierre Dukan
  • R. L. Stine
  • Ralph Ellison
  • Raymond Carver
  • Raymond Chandler
  • Raymond E. Feist
  • Rhonda Byrne
  • Richard Bach
  • Richard Scarry
  • Richard Wright
  • Rick Riordan
  • Rick Warren
  • Roald Dahl
  • Robert Jordan
  • Robert Louis Stevenson
  • Robert Ludlum
  • Robert Munsch
  • Robin Cook
  • Roger Hargreaves
  • Rudyard Kipling
  • Rumi
  • S. E. Hinton
  • Salman Rushdie
  • Samuel Beckett
  • Samuel Johnson
  • Seamus Heaney
  • Shaun Tan
  • Sidney Sheldon
  • Simone de Beauvoir
  • Sophocles
  • Stendhal
  • Stephen Hawking
  • Stephen King
  • Stephenie Meyer
  • Stieg Larsson
  • Suzanne Collins
  • Sylvia Plath
  • Ted Hughes
  • Tennessee Williams
  • Terry Brooks
  • Terry Pratchett
  • Thomas Mann
  • Thomas Pynchon
  • Tom Clancy
  • Tom Robbins
  • Toni Morrison
  • Truman Capote
  • Umberto Eco
  • Viktor Frankl
  • Virgil
  • Virginia Woolf
  • Vladimir Nabokov
  • Walt Whitman
  • Wilbur Smith
  • William Blake
  • William Faulkner
  • William Gibson
  • William Golding
  • William S. Burroughs
  • William Shakespeare
  • Zora Neale Hurston

Famous Authors

  • Agatha Christie
  • Alan Moore
  • Albert Camus
  • Aldous Huxley
  • Alexander Mccall Smith
  • Allen Ginsberg
  • Anaïs Nin
  • Anne Frank
  • Anne Rice
  • Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
  • Anton Chekhov
  • Arthur C. Clarke
  • Arthur Miller
  • Arundhati Roy
  • Astrid Lindgren
  • Ayn Rand
  • Barbara Cartland
  • Beatrix Potter
  • Beverly Cleary
  • Brian Jacques
  • C. S. Lewis
  • Carol Ann Duffy
  • Charles Dickens
  • Chinua Achebe
  • Christopher Hitchens
  • Christopher Marlowe
  • Christopher Paolini
  • Chuck Palahniuk
  • Clive Cussler
  • Cometan
  • Cormac McCarthy
  • Czesław Miłosz
  • D.H. Lawrence
  • Dale Carnegie
  • Dan Brown
  • Danielle Steel
  • Dante Alighieri
  • Daphne du Maurier
  • Dashiell Hammett
  • Dav Pilkey
  • David Baldacci
  • David Foster Wallace
  • David Sedaris
  • Dean Koontz
  • Debbie Macomber
  • Denis Diderot
  • Don DeLillo
  • Doris Lessing
  • Douglas Adams
  • Dr. Seuss
  • E.M. Forster
  • Edgar Allan Poe
  • Edith Wharton
  • Elbert Hubbard
  • Elie Wiesel
  • Ellen G. White
  • Émile Zola
  • Emily Dickinson
  • Enid Blyton
  • Eoin Colfer
  • Eric Carle
  • Erica Jong
  • Ernest Hemingway
  • Euripides
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • Fernando Pessoa
  • Frank McCourt
  • Flannery O’Connor
  • Franz Kafka
  • Gabriel García Márquez
  • Geoffrey Chaucer
  • George Bernard Shaw
  • George Eliot
  • George Orwell
  • George R. R. Martin
  • Germaine Greer
  • Gertrude Stein
  • Giacomo Leopardi
  • Giovanni Boccaccio
  • Günter Grass
  • Gustave Flaubert
  • H. G. Wells
  • Hans Christian Andersen
  • Harper Lee
  • Haruki Murakami
  • Henning Mankell
  • Henrik Ibsen
  • Henry David Thoreau
  • Henry James
  • Henry Miller
  • Herman Melville
  • Hermann Hesse
  • Homer
  • Honoré De Balzac
  • Hunter S. Thompson
  • Ian Fleming
  • Ian McEwan
  • Isaac Asimov
  • Isabel Allende
  • Italo Calvino
  • Italo Svevo
  • J. G. Ballard
  • J. K. Rowling
  • J. R. R. Tolkien
  • J.D. Salinger
  • Jack Kerouac
  • Jack London
  • Jackie Collins
  • Jacqueline Wilson
  • James Frey
  • James Joyce
  • James Patterson
  • Jane Austen
  • Jean M. Auel
  • Jeff Kinney
  • Jeffrey Archer
  • Jo Nesbø
  • Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
  • John Gray
  • John Grisham
  • John Irving
  • John Keats
  • John Milton
  • John Steinbeck

Recent Posts

  • 10 Famous Russian Authors You Must Read
  • 10 Famous Indian Authors You Must Read
  • 10 Famous Canadian Authors You Must Read
  • Top 10 Christian Authors You Must Read
  • 10 Best Graphic Novels Of All Time
  • 10 Best Adult Coloring Books Of All Time
  • 10 Best Adventure Books of All Time

Cont.

  • 10 Best Mystery Books of All Time
  • 10 Best Science Fiction Books Of All Time
  • 12 Best Nonfiction Books of All Times
  • Top 10 Greatest Romance Authors of All Time
  • 10 Famous Science Fiction Authors You Must Be Reading
  • Top 10 Famous Romance Novels of All Time

Cont.

  • 10 Famous Science Fiction Authors You Must Be Reading
  • Top 10 Famous Romance Novels of All Time
  • 10 Best Children’s Books of All Time
  • 10 Influential Black Authors You Should Read
  • 16 Stimulating WorkPlaces of Famous Authors
  • The Joy of Books

Copyright © 2020 FamousAuthors.org