The Sermons of Jonathan Swift

Silent Rhetoric

Nathalie Zimpfer (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

280 Seiten

2024
Voltaire Foundation (Verlag)
978-1-80207-528-1 (ISBN)

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The present study is the first monograph dedicated to Jonathan Swift’s sermons. As critics have noted, the sermons are “the least examined area within (the) least examined area” of Swift studies (Weinbrot 2008). While Swift’s own disparaging comment on his homilies (“the idlest trifling stuff that ever was writ”) might partly account for this critical disaffection, we suggest that his sermons may be fruitfully apprehended with a new approach of Swift as preacher of his homiletic language, as well as his use of language at large. This study presents a radically new perspective on the sermons, demonstrating that linguistic pragmatics reveals that they are characterised by a silent rhetoric, which complexifies the vision of the sermons as characterised by “narrow and shallow orthodoxy” (Nokes, 1985, p. 278). While this study leans toward the textual, the theory of language which underpins it is inclusive and makes it possible to reconcile text and context. Consequently, the overall approach is neither purely historicist nor exclusively textual, and contextualization and comparisons to other preachers are provided. The main thrust of this study thus consists in highlighting the intricate links between formal autonomy and the historico-political context in which the sermons are embedded.

Dr. Nathalie Zimpfer is an independent French scholar currently based in Saint-Didier-au-Mont-d'Or.

Introduction

Part I: Introductory Matters

Chapter 1: Jonathan Swift, Language, and the Duality of Signs

Chapter 2: Swift, Intention and Interpretation

Chapter 3: Understanding Homiletic Language

Part II: Reading the Sermons

Introduction: Swift as Satirist and Preacher: Mythopoesis and the Consistency Dogma

Chapter 1: Swift’s Sermons and the Transmission of the Gospel

Chapter 2: Swift and Institutional Regulation: From Theology to Politics

Chapter 3: The Rhetoric and Communication Style of Swiftian Homiletics

Conclusion

Appendix: Scriptural references and allusions in the sermons

Erscheinungsdatum	12.09.2024
Reihe/Serie	Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment ; 2024:09
Verlagsort	Liverpool
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Kulturgeschichte
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
ISBN-10	1-80207-528-3 / 1802075283
ISBN-13	978-1-80207-528-1 / 9781802075281
Zustand	Neuware