Tag Archives: Gulliver's Travels

Lit Heals By Keeping Us Off Balance

Different literary techniques have been used over the centuries to keep us on our toes.

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Swift Understood Trumpian Fascism

Trump’s use of “vermin” to characterize his enemies is fascist talk. “Gulliver’s Travels” shows where such talk can lead.

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Swift on How to Ignore 115,000 Deaths

Trump and others appear to be shrugging off the 115,000 (and counting) Covid-19 deaths in America. Gulliver in Book IV shows similar insensitivity.

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Is Old Age Becoming Overrated?

A “New Yorker” article on aging turns to literature to debunk the notion that aging is a good thing.

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Gulliver in Trumpland

Tuesday So now Donald Trump, after ramping up war talk with Iran, is magnanimously claiming to be a moderate by calling off his airstrike. Killing 150 Iranians, he tells us, would be a disproportionate response to the downing of an American drone. This time he’s right. Less excusable is that he got us into the […]

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Swift on the Separation of Powers

Wednesday As Donald Trump seeks to neuter Congress while at the same time welcoming autocrats to the White House, we find ourselves praying that Democrats, NeverTrumpers, and others who love our Constitution can successfully push back. It’s a battle we see dramatized in Gulliver’s account of the flying island. The executive power in this instance […]

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Swift’s Popularity with Today’s Students

Students crowded into the gym to listen to the publisher of “The Onion.” It is therefore not surprising that they are also responding enthusiastically to Jonathan Swift. I share some of their thoughts on the satirist in today’s post.

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Gulliver, Recommended for Scientists

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson’s favorite book to recommend is not a book of science but Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels.” This shows him to be a very wise man.

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If Swift Had Known Donald Trump…

Jonathan Swift would have had a field day with Donald Trump. I suspect I’ll say this often in the upcoming years.

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