Gulliver’s Travels (translated in Dutch as Gulliver’s Travels) is a satirical adventure book by Irish writer Jonathan Swift that was first published in 1726. The story describes the four journeys of main character Gulliver to fictional places. Because Swift parodied the eighteenth-century English government with his writing style, the book was read not only by children but also by adults. Today it is considered one of the classics of English literature.
Gulliver’s Travels
The story of Gulliver’s Travels is told in four parts, each of which describes one of the protagonists Gulliver’s travels. The books are each presented as part of Gulliver’s diary.
Volume 1: A Voyage to Lilliput
In the first part, after a shipwreck, Gulliver ends up on the island of Lilliput, where all inhabitants are around six inches tall. Initially, the islanders capture Gulliver, but after he proves to be good-natured, he befriends them. Gulliver is then used as a military weapon compared to the islanders because of its size.
Volume 2: A Voyage to Brobdingnag
In the second part, Gulliver makes a trip to Brobdingnag; a peninsula where the inhabitants are around 22 meters. One of the islanders abuses Gulliver by displaying him for money. Ultimately, Gulliver is sold to the Queen of the Peninsula. He then has a conversation with the king about the state of Europe, in which the king expresses his aversion to weapons.
Part 3: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Japan
In the third part, Gulliver first arrives at Laputa: a flying island where people are interested in things like astronomy and mathematics but never use them for a practical purpose. On his way to Japan, he makes a detour along Glubbdubdrib: an island where he encounters the ghosts of deceased greats such as Homer, Aristotle and Julius Caesar.
Volume 4: A Voyage to the Land of the Houyhnhnms
In the fourth and final part, Gulliver is left on an island where deformed, human-like creatures called Yahoos live. These Yahoos are under the leadership of Houyhnhnms, a breed of talking horses. Gulliver befriends the Houyhnhnms and turns against the Yahoos. When he returns home, he often ignores his family and talks to horses for hours a day.
Recurring themes
In the four volumes of Gulliver’s Travels, the European government system is regularly parodied. For example, the first part describes an opposition between two groups of people that arose because of a difference of opinion about how to open an egg. With this Swift refers to the then rival English political parties of the Whigs and the Tories. In addition, contradictions play an important role throughout the parts. For example, Gulliver is relatively large in the first part, while he is relatively small in the second part. In the third part he is intelligent, while in the fourth part he is depicted as dumb. Anti-feminism is also a theme that recurs in the book: Gulliver repeatedly describes female characters in a humiliating way.
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish writer who was born on November 30, 1667 and died on October 19, 1745. He was a writer of poems, essays and political pamphlets. Today he is regarded as one of the foremost writers of satire, especially through well-known works such as Gulliver’s Travels (1726), A Tale of the Tub (1704) and A Modest Proposal (1729). A 2017 survey of libraries found Swift to be the most popular Irish writer worldwide.
Writing process
Jonathan Swift founded the Scriblerus Club in 1713 with a group of other writers: a club whose goal was to parody popular literary genres. Swift was commissioned by this club to make a satire on conventional adventure stories. This satire eventually became the book Gulliver’s travels. Swift completed volumes 1 and 2 in 1720; in 1723 he wrote the fourth volume and in 1724 he wrote the third book. He then continued to make adjustments until he finalized the book in August 1725.
Publication
In March 1726 Swift traveled to London to have Gulliver’s Travels published. However, his publisher, Benjamin Motte, was afraid of being convicted of publishing a book that parodies the English government. For this reason he censored some passages and some pieces were completely removed. He added to the second part a passage praising the British Queen Anne. In later issues, Swift added a preface in which protagonist Gulliver apologizes for the censored pieces.
Reception
Gulliver’s Travels was an instant hit. It was a popular book among children for its adventurous nature, but it was also read by adults for its satirical observations. Yet there was also criticism of the book; especially because of its anti-feminist nature. Today Gulliver’s Travels is considered one of the most important works in English literature. The various books of Gulliver ?? s Travels have been filmed and parodied numerous times for various films and series.
Cultural impact
Many terms and names that were introduced are still used on a daily basis. For example, the Dutch term Lilliputian is derived from the name of the island that Gulliver visits in the first part. In addition, ‘Yahoo’ in English is now a synonym for savage or bandit.
Specifications
- Title: Gulliver’s Travels
- Author: Jonathan Swift
- First edition: October 28, 1726
- Original language: English
- Genre: satire, adventure, fantasy
- Publisher: Benjamin Motte