Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travelsにおける「ヤフーの皮」について

This essay examines the “skins” of the Yahoos in Part IV, “A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms” of Gulliver’s Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). Taking as its starting point the possibility that Gulliver’s treatment of Yahoos’ skin could imply his cannibalism, this essay examines Swift’s satire from Part IV of Gulliver’s Travels to his problematic writing, A Modest Proposal (1729), which poses an extraordinary plan that the flesh of infants should be served for food. I take “human skin bound books” as a clue to consider the significance of using such Yahoos’ bodily parts as their “skins” in manufacturing some objects like “Springs,” “Shoes,” and “a Canoo.” Focusing on the “skin” and “meat” they refer to, I also pay attention to the characteristics of the fictional writers of not only Gulliver’s Travels but also A Modest Proposal and A Tale of a Tub (1704). In particular suspicion will be presented that Gulliver not merely made use of the “skins” of the Yahoos for manufacturing various objects but also secretly ate their “flesh.” Finally, I discuss the complicated relationships between Gulliver, the Yahoos, and the uncanny Houyhnhnms in Part IV of Gulliver’s Travels.