Scriblerus Club

Meeting in the spring of 1714, a small group of authors and satirists created a fictional literary hack called Martinus Scriblerus. The character was fact-checking, devoid of human spirit and offered the perfect satirical vehicle for the informal group to parody current trends in scholarship and learning. The name Martin was adopted from Sir Martin Mar-all, a character created by the dramatist John Dryden, which had become synonymous with the absurd. Scribler, was a term of contempt used at the time to describe a writer with no talent. Satire flourished in 18th century Britain and the Scriblerus Club used the subversive figure to explore current issues, with a conviction it could influence positive change. The character appeared in different pieces and was a firm fixture in correspondence between the group. However, the memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus were not published until 1741, when Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift were the only members of the group still alive. The collaborative efforts of the group are considered to have greatly shaped Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Pope's The Dunciad.