Description
'Gulliver's Travels' which is originally published in 1726 (294 years ago) by publisher 'Benjamin Motte' with the title, 'Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'.
It is written by an Irish novelist, writer, and clergyman Jonathan Swift. The book is a classic of English Literature with satirical prose on human nature and the traveler’s tales as a literary sub-genre.
The book is written in the first person from the point of view of Lemuel Gulliver who travels through the ocean and visits remote regions of the world. This book describes Gulliver's (the protagonist) four extremely adventurous travel experiences.
Lemuel Gulliver lives in England and leaves the land to travel around the world. During his first voyage his shipwrecks down, he wakes up and finds himself tied up at the shore of Lilliput Island. The land of tiny people who are barely tall as much as a human finger (less than 6 inches). At first, Lilliputians believe that he is a destructive giant and can be a threat to the kingdom. Eventually, he becomes a favorite of the royal court and among the people of Lilliput. But, he ends up with the sentence to be blinded. He finally escapes with the help of a kind friend from the royal court.
He sails on the boat of his size and blown off by the gale-force to his second voyage that ends up to the land of Giants. A farmer finds him in the field and sold him to the queen of Brobdingnag. He finds great comfort in giants palace, he meets the King and tells him about Europeans who have cannons and guns. King is unhappy to hear about European culture and the use of cannons and guns. On a trip to the seaside, his traveling box is seized by a giant eagle who drops the box in the ocean. The sailors pick him up to return him to England.
The sailor's boat is attacked by the pirates on his third voyage. They maroon him on a desolate island near India, where he is rescued by a flying island of Laputa Kingdom. He tours Balnibarbi also a land ruled by Kingdom Laputa. People of that land are educated but impractical. They pursue science but without practical results, in a satire on bureaucracy and on Royal society and its experiments. He travels through many lands and kingdoms. After learning about lives on different lands, he reaches Japan where he takes leave from the Emperor to off to England.
Gulliver returns to the sea as a captain of the merchantman on his fourth and the last voyage. His crew then commits the mutiny and abandon him on the very first land they see. There he meets the Houyhnhnms - the race of intelligent and talking horses who are rulers and other sets of deformed ones resembles human beings called Yahoos. They think he may be a threat to their race so they command him to leave against his will.
He makes canoe for his departure to his home and he is recused by a Portuguese ship. He reaches his home in England but unable to reconcile. He doesn't want to be in the land of Yahoos (humans). He avoids his wife and family, and spends most of the time in the stable, talking to his horses.
It is now generally accepted that the fourth voyage of Gulliver's Travels does embody a pessimistic view of life and the meaning of his existence in the universe.
Review
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift begins with a short preamble in which Lemuel Gulliver gives a brief outline of his life and the history of his journey. The book describes his adventurous journey across the islands where he lands during his four voyages. He crams the jabbing and toe-stepping thoughts very well in this novel. The story is a big sarcastic slap on the human race that he compares with yahoos from the horse land. He believes the mainland is full of unfair forces, yet the land of tiny people, giants, and talking horses are better places to live, instead.
It was Swift's best known full-length work and classic of English Literature over two and a half centuries. The book was an immediate success. The term 'Lilliput' has been adapted as an adjective in the English language, it means 'Small and Tiny' and 'Yahoo' has been used as a synonym of ruffian or thug.
Swift claimed, 'He wrote Gulliver's Travels to vex the world rather than divert it'. He also mentions in the book, "Every Man Desires to Live Long, But No Man Wishes to Be Old".
This book is a keystone of English literature, it is one of the books that gave birth to the term ‘novel’. Though, it does not have the rules of the genre as an organizing tool. Gulliver's Travels is one of the popular travel narratives, written as a parody in easy prose. It is a fusion of adventure with savage satire, mocking English customs, and the politics of the time. Comparing pack of Yahoos with human society is sarcastically hit on the head of the nail. Swift's wit, insight, and delivery are often and remarkable.
The English dramatist John Gay remarked, "It is universally read from the cabinet council to the nursery." Robert McCrum listed Gulliver's Travels as a 'satirical masterpiece' in his selection of 100 best novels of all time.
Adaptations
Undoubtedly, Gulliver's Travels was so popular that it has never been out of print ever. It was reprinted many times with small changes in the text, even within a few months later of the first publishing date the reprint of the novel was out. It was a common topic of discussion within meetings and social groups of that era.
A new edition was released in 1735 that included allegory which was not in the original edition of 1726. It was generally regarded as the more authentic and best version, though there has been debate and controversy regarding the satire and allegorical meaning of this novel.
Film adaptations were mostly focused on the first two stories. It was adapted for an animated film (1939) produced by the Fleischer brothers. In 1977, a partially animated musical version starring Richard Harris as Gulliver, and a two-part television movie (1996) starring Ted Danson were popular adaptations of the time.
About the Author
Jonathan Swift, born on 30 November 1667 in Dublin (Ireland), was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet, and cleric who became Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, hence his common sobriquet, "Dean Swift". He was an alumnus of Trinity College in Dublin.
Besides, the most popular novel 'Gulliver's Travels' (1726), Swift wrote a short book A Tale of a Tub (1704) and A Modest Proposal (1729). Swift's other remembered work was An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712) which is popular even today among readers, although not as much as Gulliver's Travels.
He is regarded by the Encyclopaedia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language but he is less known for his poetry. His works were originally published under pseudonyms-- such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M.B. Drapier, or anonymously.
He was a master of two styles of satire -- Horatian and Juvenilia styles. He was one of the creators of deadpan, ironic writing style, particularly in 'A Modest Proposal', that led to such satire being subsequently termed "Swiftian".
He died in Dublin, Ireland on 19 October 1745, at the age of 77.
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Rating: 4.2/5
Author: Jonathan Swift
Publisher: Fingerprint Publishing
Publishing Date: 1 November 2015 (Originally published 28 October 1726)
Language: English
Genre: Classic Fiction, Satire, Fantasy
ISBN-10: 8175993251
ISBN-13: 978-8175993259
Pages: 312
Cost: 305 INR (Audiobook)
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