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Title: A Tale of a Tub

Author: Jonathan Swift

Narrator: Peter Wickham

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-07-15

Publisher: Naxos AudioBooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 5 votes

Genres: Classics, British Literature

Publisher's Summary:

Swift's allegorical satire about religion and politics follows the lives of three brothers, Martin, Peter, and Jack, each of who represents a faction of the Christian faith - Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism, and the dissenting faiths, respectively. Each brother inherits a coat (representing religious practice) from their father (God) on the condition that they do not change it. But instead the three quarrelsome youths disobey their father and change their coats beyond recognition. A Tale of a Tub was Swift's first major work and was considered a personal favorite by the author.

Members Reviews:

Swift's Satire of Christian Churches

Like all of Swift's stories this one is built on a brilliant allegorical tale. It is the story of three bothers ( each representing a particular Christian church) receiving as a legacy from their father, a perfect but simple coat ( scripture) with instructions that they will be happy in life if they follow their father's will and leave their coat's unchanged. All three men Peter ( the Catholic Church), Jack ( Puritanism) and Martin ( the Anglican Church) begin in obedience but are eventually led to abandon the terms of the will in pursuit of Money, Pride and Ambition here portrayed as desirable women ( I'm sure modern feminists now see it as another myth from a "dead white guy")

Eventually the fall from grace is compounded by a desire to gain followers by adjusting doctrine to suit people's desires rather than God's, all the while hypocritically justifying each change through their authority as church leaders..

I recommend reading this old tale for its sheer wit and invention while, at the same time, cautioning readers that it is a times tough going. Swift liked to go off on lengthy tangents to satirize practices the modern reader just doesn't recognize. In that sense, it can be frustrating. My advice is to skim those parts until you can return to the basic story. Better yet, if you can find an abridged version, go with that.

Perplexing and difficult, but well worth the read

The Tale of a Tub, a short book, was written by Swift to satirise and parody the poor quality and standard of writing at the beginning of the eighteenth century, religion in its diverse forms, with particular criticism of the more extremist Protestant groups of the time. The book takes the form of a story of three brothers, representing three religions, the papists, the Church of England and puritans and other extreme forms of Protestantism and how each uses their father's inheritance. There are numerous introductions, prefaces, digressions and asides as well as the narrative of the three brothers. In fact the narrative is probably less than half the book. The book was also written as part of an intellectual argument on the worth of ancient knowledge and writing ie Greek, Roman classical compared to modern. While Swift was defending the classics, he has written a modern book which can be seen as a precursor to other modern literature. This is #14 in 1001 books you must read before you die.

Funny stuff!

Jonathan Swift rocks my world! There's little scholarly apparatus here, just Swift trying to make a name for himself.