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Leo Damrosch. Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World. New Haven: Yale, 2013. Pp. x + 573. $35.
In the Prologue to this book, Mr. Damrosch takes pains to distinguish himself from Irvin Ehrenpreis, author of the monumental, three-volume biography of Jonathan Swift published from 1962 to 1983. Mr. Damrosch need not have bothered. Although his book is clear, readable, and entertaining, although one can speed through its loose prose interspersed with numerous maps and illustrations, it could scarcely be confused with Ehrenpreis's serious and authoritative work.
Ehrenpreis begins his biography by repudiating all the rumors that surround his enigmatic subject. Mr. Damrosch retails at length every dubious story that might titillate his audience-the more salacious, the better. Thus, Stella is the daughter of Sir William Temple; and Swift is the son of Temple's father, Sir John Temple. Thus, Swift learns of his close relation with Stella and rushes away from company in despair that they can never marry. or, perhaps, they do marry. Thus, Swift and Vanessa almost certainly have sexual intercourse and refer to their liaisons as drinking ''coffee.'' Among the less prurient and more plausible notions, Swift chafed under the authority of his mentor, Sir William, and hated life at Moor Park. Reading Mr. Damrosch's book is not really like watching the cheap Hollywood production of a classic work: he does provide lively tidbits about Swift's world. The problem is that he largely omits detailed discussion of Swift's art, which is the reason that his audience cares about his life and world in the first place. Even more disturbing is the fact that all Mr. Damrosch's juicy revelations have been explored at length by other critics, whose suggestions have supposedly sunk into an obscurity that Mr. Damrosch seems eager to perpetuate. As the poet charles Wright observes in ''The Woodpecker Pecks, but the Hole Does...