The Twitnam Summer by Hester Grant review
A historian makes the case that a meeting of minds in 1726 changed the course of English literature
TL;DR
- Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, and John Gay were key figures in 18th-century English satire.
- Swift's Gulliver's Travels satirized the Whigs, while Gay's The Beggar's Opera targeted Robert Walpole.
- The three writers met at Pope's villa in Twickenham in the summer of 1726.
- Hester Grant's book proposes this summer was a pivotal moment in English literary history.
- The article questions the extent to which this specific period was more consequential than other creative gatherings.