Gulliver's Travels [Dover Thrift Editions]

"Thus, gentle Reader, I have given thee a faithful History of my Travels for Sixteen Years, and above Seven Months; wherein I have not been so studious of Ornament as of Truth. I could perhaps like others have astonished thee with strange improbably Tales; but I rather chose to relate plain Matter of Fact in the simplest Manner and Style; because my principal Design was to inform, and not to amuse thee."

This book took me a long time to read. I couldn't figure out why it was taking me so long until I started quoting sections to my sister and my spouse and on my blog and realized just how much translation English from this era requires. So, I let myself off the hook a little bit and just tried to enjoy my leisurely reading pace. I'm glad show more to have read this book, but I'll also be glad to move onto to something written in more contemporary language.

I admit, I think a fair amount of this book was lost on me. Throughout it I was unsure about whether the opinions Gulliver expressed were meant to be his alone or if they reflected Swift's opinions as well. For example, there's the very funny section in which Gulliver goes off about lawyers and judges. I found it absolutely hilarious and read it aloud to my sister (the attorney) over the phone one night. In retrospect, it may have been a little rude to read it to her. As an attorney, she's well aware of the variety of lawyer jokes out there; it was probably unnecessary to bring to her attention eighteenth-century lawyer jokes.

In addition, since I'm not intimately acquainted with the history of England during this (or, really, any) period, I couldn't really tell when he was making fun of the culture or political structure of the time and when he was just telling the story. I mean, in the first section, he goes into great detail about where and how he excretes among the diminutive Lilliputians and how astonished they are at his prodigious passage of urine. Are these scatological asides meant to tell the reader about Gulliver's character (like when he notes that his personal habits of cleanliness have often come into question and he's interested in setting the record straight), or are these descriptions themselves part of the satire? Are they spoofs of travel writing of the time? Being unfamiliar with either the culture or the travel-writing genre of eighteenth-century England, I couldn't say. Same thing with the rather sexual nature of some of his experiences among the giants of Brobdingnag.

However, even amid my confusion several bits struck me as quite funny. As a homeschooler I quite appreciated Gulliver's observation that, in Lilliput, "Parents are the last of all others to be trusted with the Education of their own Children." Even more amusing was the Lilliputians' reasoning for why parents are unqualified to educate their children: that a child's parents likely were fairly unintentional about bringing that child into being as their "Thoughts in the their Love-encounters were otherwise employed."

There are several sections that seem like a criticism of contemporary Western culture, including one of my favorite sections of Part III. Gulliver travels to the city of Lagado on the island of Balnibarbi where the people have embraced a thoroughly intellectual manner of problem-solving. New innovations will improve building, manufacture, agriculture, and every pursuit in which the city might engage. Among the benefits promised: “one Man shall do the Work of Ten; a Palace may be built in a Week…all the Fruits of the Earth shall come to Maturity at whatever Season we think fit to chuse, and increase an Hundred Fold more than they do at present.” Trouble is, these methods haven’t been perfected, and the people are suffering for it, going without adequate food and safe shelter as they wait for the innovations to catch up with their needs.

Rather than changing course, the people of Lagado persist: “Instead of being discouraged, they are Fifty Times more violently bent upon prosecuting their Schemes, driven equally on by Hope and Despair.”

I found it interesting that after both his visit to the giants in Brobdingnag and his visit to the rational Houyhnhnms, Gulliver ends up feeling an aversion to his own image in a mirror. In the first situation, the giants have developed a worldview in which a creature's worth is directly proportional to its size, so when Gulliver looks in the mirror, he's reminded of his own insignificance. In the second, he has developed such a positive opinion of the moral and honest Houyhnhnms (rational Horses) and so internalized their revulsion towards the Yahoos (the feral humans on that island) that he cannot stand to see the reminder that he is, in fact, a Yahoo and not a Houyhnhm. It's like Gulliver experiences a kind of Stockholm syndrome in every place he visits. I wonder if this is a comment on how people who are exposed to pretentious views can adopt them as their own and then do all they can to class themselves with their "betters" and distance themselves from their true nature.

Oh, and if you read Gulliver's Travels, I highly recommend going back after you're done and re-reading, "A Letter From Capt. Gulliver to His Cousin Simpson" that's at the beginning of the book. His comments about Yahoos and Houyhnhnms make a lot more sense---and are a lot more amusing---now that I've read the whole book. show less

The author of Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift, was born in the 17th century and penned this, his most famous work, in the early 18th century. It is a magnificent piece of satire and has stood the test of time, perhaps better than any novel of its kind.

Through Gulliver’s travels to Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa and the land of the Houyhnhnms (intelligent horses) and Yahoos (dumb and brutish humanoids), Swift is able to hold up many of the institutions of his day, such as our system of government, laws, religion, armed conflict, medicine and education to ridicule, as Lemuel Gulliver seeks to explain them to his various hosts, to their horror and disbelief.

Swift’s razor sharp wit and entertaining method of satire is as effective show more today as it was when written, when it must have been an absolute sensation. While it can be an effective teaching tool, and many view it as simply a children’s book, much of the work would be far too sophisticated for young children, and I can testify that as a well-read 53 year old, I found it highly entertaining and enlightening. show less

Swift pokes fun of everyone and everything in England and Europe: government, tastes, manners, religion, conflict, and finally and fully himself. The story gets a little stale toward the end, the satire more pointed, less obtuse, and the repetition of the inadequacies of man become old. And as with most satire, only the negative is portrayed, except of course, when the author is poking fun at himself.

Swift pokes fun of everyone and everything in England and Europe: government, tastes, manners, religion, conflict, and finally and fully himself. The story gets a little stale toward the end, the satire more pointed, less obtuse, and the repetition of the inadequacies of man become old. And as with most satire, only the negative is portrayed, except of course, when the author is poking fun at himself.

This is considered a masterpiece of satire and is Jonathan Swift's longest work. It is a satire of both humans and of travel literature. Written in 1726 it is still relevant today. I don't believe I have read the entire work before but was so well acquainted with most of it, I must have read an abridged version. I still like A Modest Proposal best by this author but this was good too. This can be read as a children's story, as almost science fiction/fantasy genre, but the author meant it as political satire as well as a satire of travel literature. In fact there is a lot of references to bodily functions and to sexual activity that makes this not a work for children though children will certainly find the defecating and urinating funny. show more The book is a study of human nature and whether man is just a Yahoo or if there is some that are kind and generous.
Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput (Small)
Part II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag (big)
Part III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Japan (wise)
Part IV: A Voyage to the Land of the Houyhnhnms: (ignorant)
The book has had mixed receptions but it cannot be denied that it has had lasting influence on the development of the novel as well as our language. show less

It was all right. Gulliver got on my nerves quite a bit. It seems to me that Jonathan Swift would have been either someone you would have loved to hang around or someone who could annoy you to no end.