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The trickster as an instrument of enlightenment: George Psalmanazar and the writings of Jonathan Swift

2004; Routledge; Volume: 31; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.histeuroideas.2003.11.004

1873-541X

John Shufelt,

Historical Studies of British Isles

Abstract The publication of George Psalmanazar's Description of Formosa (1704–1705) and the controversy surrounding the young man who claimed to be ‘a Native of Formosa, An Island subject to the Emperor of Japan,’ must place text and author among the most audacious examples of literary fraud in any language. Psalmanazar's Formosa fabrications—including claims of endemic polygamy, cannibalism, and child sacrifice—titillated and appalled his contemporaries, including Jonathan Swift, who paid mock tribute to the ‘famous Salmanaazor’ in A Modest Proposal (1729), crediting the ‘Formosan’ with being the true genius behind the plan ‘for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country’. Little attention has been paid to the possibility that Psalmanazar may have been a source for other Swift satires, including the little-known An Account of the Court and Empire of Japan (1727–1728), and major texts such as Gulliver’s Travels (1726). This essay aims to bring the image of one of the 18th century's more entertaining personalities into sharper resolution, and to explore the possibility that his influence on Swift was greater than has been generally suspected. Notes 1In both the first (1704) and second editions (1705) of the Description of Formosa the author's name is spelled ‘Psalmanaazaar.’ He soon shortened this by dropping the double ‘a’ in the last two syllables. 2Frederic J. Foley. The Great Formosan Impostor. (Rome: Jesuit Historical Institute; St. Louis: St. Louis University, 1968) 10–14; George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). Memoirs of ****: Commonly Known by the Name of George Psalmanazar; a Reputed Native of Formosa. (London, 1764) 177–182. 3The anonymous author of the preface to Psalmanazar's posthumous Memoirs reports the opinion of ‘the reverend Mr. Villette,’ a man ‘intimately acquainted’ with Psalmanazar, that Psalmanazar was French, and describes him as speaking French with ‘a spice of the Gascoin accent.’ George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). Memoirs of ****: Commonly Known by the Name of George Psalmanazar; a Reputed Native of Formosa. (London, 1764) i–ii. The minutes of a 1703 Royal Society meeting state that he ‘looked like a young Dutch Man.’ Frederic J. Foley. The Great Formosan Impostor. (Rome: Jesuit Historical Institute; St. Louis: St. Louis University, 1968) 17. 4George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). Memoirs of ****: Commonly Known by the Name of George Psalmanazar; a Reputed Native of Formosa. (London, 1764) 73. 5George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). Memoirs of ****: Commonly Known by the Name of George Psalmanazar; a Reputed Native of Formosa. (London, 1764) 117. 6George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). Memoirs of ****: Commonly Known by the Name of George Psalmanazar; a Reputed Native of Formosa. (London, 1764) 134. 7George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). Memoirs of ****: Commonly Known by the Name of George Psalmanazar; a Reputed Native of Formosa. (London, 1764) 135–136. 8George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). Memoirs of ****: Commonly Known by the Name of George Psalmanazar; a Reputed Native of Formosa. (London, 1764) 192–215. 9Innes later plagiarised the manuscript, entrusted in his care, of An Enquiry into the Original of Moral Virtue (1733), later republished the same year by its true author, Archibald Campbell. See George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). Memoirs of ****: Commonly Known by the Name of George Psalmanazar; a Reputed Native of Formosa. (London, 1764) 180; Frederic J. Foley. The Great Formosan Impostor (Rome: Jesuit Historical Institute; St. Louis: St. Louis University, 1968) 10–15, 37–38, n8, 58–59. 10Frederic J. Foley. The Great Formosan Impostor. (Rome: Jesuit Historical Institute; St. Louis: St. Louis University, 1968) 25–29. 11The first edition of the Description of Formosa appeared in April, 1704 and was soon sold out. Psalmanazar immediately went to work on the second edition which appeared in the summer of 1705. The new edition incorporated one major structural change: instead of beginning with an account of Psalmanazar's travels followed by a rather dry meditation on theological issues surrounding his conversion, the 1705 edition places this entire section after ‘A Description of the Isle of Formosa,’ which is placed in the second half of the 1704 edition. There were significant content changes in the second edition as well. Psalmanazar added a map and a lengthy new preface rebutting his detractors, and embellished the sensational aspects (cannibalism and child sacrifice) of the story. The second edition should be considered authoritative, and I cite it throughout this essay, with the exception of opening pages of the ‘Account of the Travels’ of the first edition, since this passage remained unaltered, and since it is more readily available in N.M. Penzer's 1926 reprint of the first edition. A useful analysis of the French, Dutch, and German editions of the Description is included in Justin Stagl's excellent 1995 essay on Psalmanazar in his, A History of Curiosity: The Theory of Travel 1550–1800. (Chur, Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1995). 12George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan. Ed. N.M. Penzer. (London, 1704; London: Robert Holden, 1926) 5–6. 13George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan. Ed. N.M. Penzer. (London, 1704; London: Robert Holden, 1926) 7. 14George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan. Ed. N.M. Penzer. (London, 1704; London: Robert Holden, 1926) 14–22. 15George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan. Ed. N.M. Penzer. (London, 1704; London: Robert Holden, 1926) 38–43. 16Richard M. Swiderski. The False Formosan: George Psalmanazar and the Eighteenth-Century Experiment of Identity. (San Francisco: Mellen Research University Press, 1991) 30–31. 17George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). Memoirs of ****: Commonly Known by the Name of George Psalmanazar; a Reputed Native of Formosa. (London, 1764) 208–209. 18George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 47. 19George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 21–22. 20George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 23. 21George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 23–24. 22George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 36–37. 23George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 28–29. 24Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal” Irish Tracts 1728–1733, The Prose works of Jonathan Swift, Vol. 12. Ed. Herbert Davis. (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1955) 113–114. 25George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 111–112. 26Harold Williams. Dean Swift’s Library with a Facsimile of the Original Sale Catalogue (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1932); William LeFanu (compiler). A Catalogue of the Books belonging to Dr. Jonathan Swift. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Library, 1988) 3. 27Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels: An Authoritative Text, 2nd ed. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg. (New York: Norton, 1970); “An Account of the Court and Empire of Japan, Written in MDCCXXVII.” 27 Miscellaneous and Autobiographical Pieces, Fragments and Marginalia, The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, Vol. 5. Ed. Herbert Davis. (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1962) 99–107. 28Richard M. Swiderski. The False Formosan: George Psalmanazar and the Eighteenth-Century Experiment of Identity. (San Francisco: Mellen Research University Press, 1991) 31–34, 40–41; Frederic J. Foley. The Great Formosan Impostor. (Rome: Jesuit Historical Institute; St. Louis: St. Louis University, 1968) 17–20. 29Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels: An Authoritative Text, 2nd ed. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg. (New York: Norton, 1970) 87–88. 30Herbert Davis. “‘Introduction’ to Jonathan Swift.” Miscellaneous and Autobiographical Pieces, Fragments and Marginalia, The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, Vol. 5, Ed. Herbert Davis. (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1962) xiv–xv; Irvin Ehrenpreis. Swift: The Man, His Works, and the Age, Vol. 3. (London: Methuen, 1962–1983) 529. 31Ian Higgins. Swift’s Politics: A Study in Disaffection. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994) 154–155. 32Herbert Davis. “‘Introduction’ to Jonathan Swift.” Miscellaneous and Autobiographical Pieces, Fragments and Marginalia, The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, Vol. 5. Ed. Herbert Davis. (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1962) xii; H. Teerink. A Bibliography of the Writings of Jonathan Swift, 2nd ed. Ed. Arthur H. Scoutem. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1963). 33Jonathan Swift. Miscellaneous and Autobiographical Pieces, Fragments and Marginalia, The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, Vol. 5. Ed. Herbert Davis. (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1962) 107. 34George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 3–10. 35Percy G. Adams. Travel Literature and the Evolution of the Novel. (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1983) 143. 36Awnsham Churchill and John Churchill (compilers). A Collection of Voyages and Travels, 4 vols. (London, 1704); Arthur Sherbo, “Swift and Travel Literature.” Modern Language Studies (1979): 122. 37William Dampier (1652–1715) was a widely known buccaneer and explorer whose Voyage Round the World (London, 1697; London: Hummingbird Press, 1998) excited much attention in the early years of the 18th century. 38Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels: An Authoritative Text, 2nd ed. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg. (New York: Norton, 1970) iv. 39Percy G. Adams. Travellers and Travel Liars: 1660–1800. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962) 4–6; John Shufelt. ‘Enduring Memories of False Formosa: An Assessment of Psalmanazar's Fraudulent Description of Formosa of 1704.’ Unpublished Paper Presented to the Fourth Annual North America Taiwan Studies Conference, May 29–June 1, 1998, University of Texas, Austin, USA. 40All illustrations from Gulliver’s Travels which appear in this essay are reproduced courtesy and with the permission of the Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley, and Mr. Lee Jaffe, from whose innovative web page these images were copied. Mr. Jaffe's scholarly page is a rare example of the scholarly potential of the Internet, and should server as a model of its kind. See Lee Jaffe (Ed.), Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, ⟨http://www.jaffebros.com/lee/gulliver/index.html⟩ (accessed 7 March 2004). 41Daniel Eilon. “Gulliver's Fellow-Traveller Psalmanazar.” British Journal of Eighteenth Century Studies 8: (1985): 173–178. 42George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 176. 43George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 174. 44George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 160–161. 45This passage was greatly reworked. The first edition reads: ‘This Test was afterwards try’d upon some Jesuits, or other Monks of the Romish Church, who ventur’d to come into Japan, hoping perhaps to conceal themselves under the fragile disguise of being Hollanders: But when they came into the Harbour, an Image of Christ Crucified was brought to them, and they were required to trample upon it, which they refus’d to do; whereupon they were all apprehended … But the Hollanders make no scruple to trample upon the Crucifix when-ever they are required to do it; and therefore they are not accounted Christians by the Japanese; according to the common opinion of all Japan, That those Foreigners only are Christians who refuse to trample upon the Crucifix … Thus the Hollanders, by denying Christianity, secur’d their freedom of Trade in Japan’. See George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan. Ed. N.M. Penzer (London, 1704; London: Robert Holden, 1926) 277–278. The second edition elaborated on the trampling test. Substitution of the words ‘Crossmen’ and ‘Cross’ for ‘Christians’ and ‘Crucifix’ provides another instance in which Psalmanazar amended the text in order to amplify passages he knew to be exceptionally sensational or titillating, in this case, Dutch blasphemy. 46J. Leeds Barroll. “Gulliver in Luggnagg: A Possible Source.” Philological Quarterly 36:4 (1957): 504–508; Engelbert Kaempfer. The History of Japan (trans. J.G. Scheuchzer) Vol. 2. (London, 1727; Glasgow: J. MacLehose, 1906) 156–169. See also Elizabeth R. Napier. “Swift's ‘Trampling upon the Crucifix’: A Parallel” Notes and Queries 26: (1979) 544–548; ‘Swift, Kaempfer, and Psalmanazar: Further Remarks on “Trampling upon the Crucifix.’’ Notes and Queries 28: (1981): 226; John A. Dussinger. “Christian’ vs. ‘Hollander’: Swift's Satire on the Dutch East India Traders.” Notes and Queries (1966): 209–212. 47Arthur Sherbo. “Swift and Travel Literature.” Modern Language Studies (1979): 115. 48John A. Dussinger. “Gulliver in Japan: Another Possible Source.” Notes and Queries 39: (1992): 464–465. 49George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 4–5. 50George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 5. 51George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 6–7. Ming dynasty general and loyalist Cheng Ch’eng-kung (1624–1662) marshalled his 25,000 defeated troops to Taiwan to unseat the Dutch after he himself had been forced to retreat from Ch’ing-controlled China. Cheng's father had been a Chinese pirate based in Taiwan; his mother was Japanese and Cheng was born Japan. 52George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 15. 53George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) xxxi–xxxiii. 54George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 2. 55Arnoldus Montanus. Atlas Chinensis (London: John Ogliby, 1671) 39. Silting has since claimed the small island (the site of the Fort Zeelandia ruins is now a mile inland from the sea), although its appellation ‘Taiwan,’ the original Chinese designation for this south-western region of the island's coast, has eclipsed the island's Portuguese name in the 20th century. 56Arthur E. Case. Four Essays on Gulliver’s Travels. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1945) 50–68. 57Arthur E. Case. Four Essays on Gulliver’s Travels. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1945) 54–55. 58See Fig. 2. 59Arthur E. Case. Four Essays on Gulliver’s Travels. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1945) 59–60. 60Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels: An Authoritative Text, 2nd ed. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg. (New York: Norton, 1970) 127–128. 61Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels: An Authoritative Text, 2nd ed. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg. (New York: Norton, 1970) 227. 62George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan. Ed. N.M. Penzer. (London, 1704; London: Robert Holden, 1926) 7. 63Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels: An Authoritative Text, 2nd ed. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg. (New York: Norton, 1970) 128–129. 64George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 162–164. 65Frederic J. Foley. The Great Formosan Impostor (Rome: Jesuit Historical Institute; St. Louis: St. Louis University, 1968) 39. 66Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels: An Authoritative Text, 2nd ed. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg (New York: Norton, 1970) 132. 67George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 61. 68George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 62. 69George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 43. 70George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 45. 71George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 47. 72Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels: An Authoritative Text, 2nd ed. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg. (New York: Norton, 1970) 134. 73George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 43, 57–61. 74Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels: An Authoritative Text, 2nd ed. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg. (New York: Norton, 1970) 180. 75Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels: An Authoritative Text, 2nd ed. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg. (New York: Norton, 1970) 39. 76George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 121. 77George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) 119. 78Richard M. Swiderski. The False Formosan: George Psalmanazar and the Eighteenth-Century Experiment of Identity. (San Francisco: Mellen Research University Press, 1991) 75. 79George Psalmanazar (Psalmanaazaar). An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa: An Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan, 2nd ed. (London, 1705) xviii–xix. 80Richard M. Swiderski. The False Formosan: George Psalmanazar and the Eighteenth-Century Experiment of Identity. (San Francisco: Mellen Research University Press, 1991) 75. 81Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels: An Authoritative Text, 2nd ed. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg. (New York: Norton, 1970) 158. 82Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels: An Authoritative Text, 2nd ed. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg. (New York: Norton, 1970) 159. 83Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels: An Authoritative Text, 2nd ed. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg. (New York: Norton, 1970) 176. 84Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travels: An Authoritative Text, 2nd ed. Ed. Robert A. Greenberg. (New York: Norton, 1970) 255–256. 85Frederic J. Foley. The Great Formosan Impostor. (Rome: Jesuit Historical Institute; St. Louis: St. Louis University, 1968) 76. 86Terrien de Lacouperie. “Formosa Notes on MSS., Races and Languages.” The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 19: (1887): 437–438. 87Psalmanazar worked as a hack writer from the early 1730s until well into old age, contributing to Samuel Palmer's A General History of Printing (1731), Emanuel Bowen's A Complete System of Geography (London, 1747), and Archibald Bower's An Universal History (London, 1736–1754). Among Frederick Foley's most provocative discoveries, reprinted as an appendix in his monograph, is the draft of a proposed chapter for a Richardson's Pamela Psalmanazar wrote and gave to Richardson for his consideration. ‘O! Mr. Psalmanazar!’ is Richardson's telling comment written in the margin of the manuscript, suggesting just how amateurish the attempt must have appeared to him. See Frederic J. Foley. The Great Formosan Impostor. (Rome: Jesuit Historical Institute; St. Louis: St. Louis University, 1968) 52–54, 107–117.