It is difficult to give an account of Swift's life without talking of the ways in which it has been represented. This does not mean that his life is merely “textual,” that whatever facts or certainties shared by his biographers are of less significance than the competing interpretations which they provide. Rather, it means that any account should acknowledge the history of Swiftian biography. That history was itself anticipated and imagined by Swift, who realized that his life would become as contentious as his work, and that he would be recreated and reinvented by friends and enemies alike. The extent to which a literary work reflects, betrays, or conceals its author is an issue which concerned Swift as much as it has concerned his biographers.