1. CONTENT<br />Literature was characterised by a highly increased questioning of religion, a rise in empiricism and reductionism. <br />Content was often explicitly political, with satire being the most popular genre.<br />It explored themes of social upheaval, reversals of personal status, political satire, and the ‘comparison between the supposed natural state of man and the supposed civilised state of man’.<br />There was an emphasis on reason and logic, harmony, stability, wisdom; philosophy was dominant, as was economics, social ethics, trade and morality.<br />Locke: a social contract exists between the government and the people. The government governs guaranteeing ‘natural rights’ of life, liberty, and property. <br />Emphasis on the individual, belief that humanity is basically evil, approach to life: ‘the world as it should be’.<br />Micromégas excerpt<br />1752 - Voltaire: Micromégas, a satirical short story on space travellers visiting the earth. One of the first science fiction novels, showing the leaning towards the more scientific thinking of the age. This technique of using an outsider, an onlooker to make social commentary on western culture was popular and used again by many others. <br /> ↓ Read Excerpt Below <br />‘On hearing these words, all the philosophers shook their heads, and one, more frank than the others, candidly confessed that, with the exception of a small number held in mean estimation among them, all the rest of mankind were a multitude of fools, knaves, and miserable wretches.<br />quot;
We have more matter than we need,quot;
said he, quot;
the cause of much evil, if evil proceeds from matter; and we have too much mind, if evil proceeds from mind. For instance, at this very moment there are 100,000 fools of our species who wear hats, slaying 100,000 fellow creatures who wear turbans, or being massacred by them, and over almost all of Earth such practices have been going on from time immemorial.quot;
<br />The Sirian shuddered, and asked what could cause such horrible quarrels between those miserable little creatures.’ <br />A Modest Proposal excerpt<br />1729 - Jonathan Swift: A Modest Proposal, a satirical essay suggesting that the Irish should sell their children as food. The essay mocks callous attitudes towards the poor and British policy in Ireland, and was written during his political campaigning for the Irish. It is seen as one of the best sustained examples of irony throughout the entire history of the English language. ↓ Read Excerpt Below<br /> <br />‘It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms. <br />... whoever could find out a fair, cheap and easy method of making these children sound and useful members of the common-wealth, would deserve so well of the publick, as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation.<br />I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a most delicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricasie, or a ragoust. ‘<br />