4.0114 Qs: Danish contacts; Swiftian satire (2/33)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Wed, 23 May 90 19:55:33 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0114. Wednesday, 23 May 1990.


(1) Date: 22 May 90 17:13 EST (12 lines)
From: Malcolm Hayward <MHAYWARD@IUPCP6.BITNET>
Subject: A Danish Address?

(2) Date: Wed, 23 May 90 09:20:30 +0100 (21 lines)
From: arb1%ukc.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK
Subject: Swift,satire,etc.

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 22 May 90 17:13 EST
From: Malcolm Hayward <MHAYWARD@IUPCP6.BITNET>
Subject: A Danish Address?

I'd like a contact at the University of Copenhagen, particularly
the Center for Translation studies, to transmit a file. Any connections?
Thanks.

Malcolm Hayward MHayward@IUP
Department of English Phone: 412-357-2322 or
IUP 412-357-2261
Indiana, PA 15705
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------32----
Date: Wed, 23 May 90 09:20:30 +0100
From: arb1%ukc.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK
Subject: Swift,satire,etc.

I remember reading somewhere in the late sixties that someone - and it
is that vague - rewrote Swift's Modest Proposal in modern English and
published it in a West Coast local paper. The reaction was outrage.
Readers assumed that the writer really was advocating cannibalism. Can
anybody help me trace the reference, and does anybody know of other
occasions where parody or satire have been taken at their face value,
particularly when the satire (or parody) has suggested forms of activity
so outrageous that no reasonable (! sic) person could take them
seriously?

I would find it helpful to receive personal replies. As much as I enjoy
reading some of the crazier contributions (and even some of the heavy
intellectual theoretical discussions), I don't always find the time to
go through everything.

Tony Bex
arb1@ukc.ac.uk