| GULLIVER'S TRAVELS |  |
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 138
 Timeless In More Than One Way June 5, 2010
Dave_42 (Australia)
Its actual title is "Travels Into Several Remote Nations Of The World" as if by Lemuel Gulliver, but most people know it as "Gulliver's Travels" and the actual author is Jonathan Swift. The book works on numerous levels, it could be viewed as an adventure story for children, an early example of fantasy/science fiction, a general satire of humanity, or a more specific satire of events, society, and politics in which Swift lived. The latter was undoubtedly the way it was taken when first publish ed in 1726 and amended in 1735, but that is the most difficult way for the reader to view the book today. The Penguin Classics edition of "Gulliver's Travels" is of great assistance in helping the reader appreciate that aspect of the book, with a fine introduction by Robert Demaria, Jr., and detailed notes throughout the text to help explain many of the references.
Part I, "A Voyage to Lilliput" is the best known part of the book. This section has often been used in isolation of the other three parts of the book. This is the story where Gulliver is shipwrecked and washed up on a distant shore, only to find himself a captive of the Lilliputians, who are 1/12th the size of Gulliver. Swift is very detailed in discussing the minutia of Gulliver's experience, from how much he has to eat, to how he relieves himself. Swift satirizes the court of King George I, and of course travel books where the authors stretch the truth. Gulliver starts as a captive, becomes a loyal subject, but then is forced by his own morals to refuse the requests of the King of Lilliput which allows his enemies to work against him. As a result, Gulliver is forced to flee and as fortune would have it he makes it back to home.
In Part II, "A Voyage to Brobdingnag", Gulliver once again goes to sea, and is this time abandoned when he goes to look for fresh water. This time Gulliver finds himself in a somewhat reversed position, still captive, but this time by people who are 12 times his height. The notoriety of Gulliver's existence results in his again being a favorite of the court. Gulliver tries to impress the King with stories of Europe, but his stories of the use of guns and cannons has the opposite affect. This time Gulliver is rescued by luck when a giant bird drops him in the sea where he is found and returned again to England.
Part III, "A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan again has Gulliver at sea, and his fortunes are worse yet, as his ship is taken by Pirates and he is marooned on an island. Here he is rescued by a flying island (Laputa) which is a kingdom where math and the arts are of paramount importance but they have no interest at all in Gulliver's information regarding other lands. Gulliver then travels to Balnurabi where he visits their Academy which is a satire of the Royal Society at the time. Gulliver decides to go to Japan to make his way on a Dutch ship back to England, but since he has time he first goes to Glubbdubdrib. Here he discusses history with the ghosts, and learns of the immortal Struldbruggs who spend most of their existence old and infirmed. Gulliver then makes his way back to Balnurabi and on to Japan, where he manages to avoid a ceremony where he would have to trample on the crucifix before returning to England. This is the last of the sections which Swift wrote, and is the most unusual.
Part IV, "A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms" starts with Gulliver breaking his promise to remain at home and returning to the Sea. Once again misfortune sets in and his crew mutinies and eventually leaves him on an unknown shore. Here Gulliver meets the dominant species, the Houyhnhns who are like horses. The humans of this land are called Yahoos, and their behavior and actions convince Gulliver that the Houyhnhms are preferable to his own species. In the end Gulliver much prefers life among the Houyhnhms to that among humans (Yahoos), even those in England. The Houyhnhms decide that Gulliver is a danger to their society, and so they exile him. Gulliver is rescued, no thanks to his own efforts, and finds himself once again among humans. Despite being treated wonderfully by the Portuguese captain, Gulliver cannot stand being among humans, and even when he makes it back to his home in England, he prefers to spend his time in the stables with the horses. This section contains my favorite part of the book, where Gulliver tries to defend European "Civilization" to the Houyhnhms by discussing European wars.
If one is looking to read "Gulliver's Travels" as a Children's book, then there are better editions than this one to choose. If you are looking to read the complete book as an adventure story or a general satire, then there are several editions which contain the complete novel, though this one will work for that as well. If you are looking to read it to understand the more specific and detailed satire that it offers, then the Penguin Classics publication is a very good choice of editions. In addition to the introduction and the notes mentioned before, there are also some textual notes discussing the differences in the 1726 and 1735 editions. For the most part, this book sticks with the 1726 edition, but there are several places where Robert Demaria, Jr. opts to use the 1735 text. This is also discussed in the notes and in "A Note on the Text" which precedes the novel.
 Polyglot travelin' man is adventurous, semi-obsessed with human excretions. May 2, 2010
Julee Rudolf (Oak Harbor, WA USA)
I was pleasantly surprised by Gulliver's Travels, a book that I expected to be a tediously difficult read. Instead, I found it to be fast-paced and interesting, though filled with references to various bodily excretions almost to the point of obsession. Having been introduced to some of the book's cool words that have been dictionary-ized (like "Lilliputian" and "Brobdingnagian") in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, I enjoyed learning a bit about how they came to be, though was most intrigued by two countries, Laputa and Luggnagg, that I'd never heard of before.
In Part I, Gulliver sets out on his first voyage and lands in Lilliput, were the natives are only one-twelfth his size. After freeing himself from bondage, he ingratiates himself with the Lilliputians in various ways, including, in a moment of quick thinking, putting out a fire through peeing, in one of the many bodily-excretion-related incidents Swift shares with the reader. Another, on the same island, involves his dismay at having to...ahem...rid his body of fecal matter, including the lengths (involving wheelbarrows) that the locals must go to to facilitate the situation. Typical throughout his travels, Gulliver is able to learn the language and get on good terms with the native people. As happens after each major stop, he heads home to hang with the wife and kids, then and goes off on his next adventure. In Part II, readers learn about his second destination, Brobdingnag, basically, the land of the giants. Field laborers track him down and his caregivers end up showing him off to others at times as a sort of freak due to his diminutive size. Due to bad feelings about him on the part of a dwarf, he's involved in several "accidents" involving things like apples, a dog, etc. Again, he heads home. In Part III, where he visits several destinations, he gains passage as a ship's surgeon. Unfortunately, the captain takes on some bad guys, which leads to Gulliver being left adrift. He finds his way to Laputa, the land of math and music, where, among other things, the island is a perfect circle and its residents eat things formed into perfect geometric shapes. From there he moves on to Balnibarbi; Lagado, where they employ some backwards-seeming practices for plowing and constructing houses; Glubbdubdrib, where persons from the world over may be called up from the dead and questioned for a period not to exceed 24 hours; and Luggnagg, land of the extremely intriguing Struldbruggs, whose status as immortals turns out not to be as appealing as one might expect. In Part IV, he journeys to the "Country of the Houyhnhnms," where, in Planet of the Apes-like fashion, the beasts (horses) rule, and the Yahoos, more primitive versions of humans, are ruled.
Within the story of his various adventures, even a semi-oblivious (in terms of history and politics) person like me will find interesting discussions about and references to social, religious, political, and philosophical issues that still exist today, almost 300 years after Swift wrote Gulliver's Travels. Also good: Silence by Shusaku Endo, Shogun by James Clavell, and Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick.
 Jon Stewart of 1726 May 2, 2010
John Scott (Tokyo Japan)
A satire of travels books which were popular in the day, many of which were less than truthful, and a satire of the "human condition" as we now call it, Gulliver's Travels has been interpreted as a rebuttal to the rugged individualism of Robinson Crusoe (1719).
The idea is that man is petty, irrational, dishonest, bigoted and incompetent.
My thoughts are thus: I know we can be petty, irrational, dishonest, bigoted and incompetent; but is that all we can be? To strive for a higher level surely cannot be the absurdity the premises imply.
Entertaining, no doubt, but the underlying message isn't at all inspiring.
Perhaps Satire's Height April 21, 2010
Bill R. Moore (New York, USA)
Gulliver's Travels is near-unique in world literature in that it can truly be enjoyed and appreciated by all. It has over the years been seen an adventure, a children's story, a travelogue parody, a political allegory, one of the first novels, and a satirical masterpiece. The book is all this and more, making it one of literature's ten or so truly immortal works, a towering monument as significant and important nearly three hundred years on as ever. It is one of the few books that absolutely everyone should read, and its peculiar greatness is that, perhaps alone among them, nearly everyone will love it.
On the most obvious level it is a rollicking adventure. Swift's imagination is one of the most astounding ever; he invents an incredible diversity of unforgettable places and people, and millions have been enthralled by this alone. The book has even often worked as a children's story - sans crude and heavy elements of course. Those approaching it for the first time are in for a real joy. They simply will not know what comes next and will keep wondrously reading to find out.
Those who really appreciate the novel, though, see that Swift was merely using the adventure frame as a vehicle for his philosophical and political views. Often called misanthropic, a deep distrust of humanity affected everything he did; he was sickened by brutality, avarice, pride, and other vices, which comes across clearly here in many ways. Gulliver unflinchingly depicts many of humanity's shortcomings without excuse or even sympathy; our irrationality, stupidity, ignorance, hypocrisy, and perhaps above all, arrogance are on merciless display. The true mockery is often not so much the horror of our actions as the pettiness of our motives. Despite the light-hearted device, a more fundamentally misanthropic and savagely satirical work has perhaps never been written. Anyone wanting shame-inducing proof of what fools human beings are need look no further.
Yet it is possible to take this too far. As misanthropic as Swift was, he was also one of the era's great liberals - a fierce liberty champion and advocate for the repressed. Those who read closely can see that his hatred lay not with the downtrodden but with those who make them so - monarchs, politicians, judges, lawyers, and other unsavory types. He was sickened by humanity's inhumanity. The almost unbearably dark ending seems to have no hope for meliorism, and the book generally shows human life as an unbroken misery series. Stern Christianity kept Swift from the existential despair that haunted writers and intellectuals about a century and a half later, but one would be very hard-pressed to find a more despairing portrait of the human condition prior to the late nineteenth century.
Again, though, this can be exaggerated. Some parts of the novel are truly light-hearted; there is a wealth of humor, not all of it satirical. There is also a great deal of charming whimsy. Most notable of all, though, is that Swift manages to convey his bitter pill through satire; this is worlds away from the gloomy realist works of the last century plus. Swift is universally known as the greatest English satirist and is one of the greatest ever; he knew how to convey harsh truths in palatable form. The satire ranges from thinly-veiled to subtle. Swift thus lets the real message arise naturally rather than overwhelming the story - a fine line that few can walk straight and that perhaps no one can do as well.
The satire's sophistication has been fully recognized only relatively recently; Gulliver was indeed so far ahead of its time that it was perhaps not even possible for all its nuances to have been appreciated earlier. Careful readers will notice that Gulliver, as his name implies, is very gullible - at least at first, often not seeming to see the full import of what he says. However, he becomes ever more cynical and wizened, and the satirical frame gradually lessens to the point where most of part four is simply outright lashing - almost an essay in dramatic monologue form. Some have criticized this on artistic grounds, saying Swift got carried away or even that he began to lose sanity. However, it is clearly deliberate; the artistic control is stunningly precise. Swift knows how to draw us in, introducing his message gradually until we are so taken that we will keep reading even when hit hard. Such finely-wrought mastery has rarely been shown anywhere, much less in satire. This is also important in character development terms; Gulliver is a very complex - perhaps even unreliable - narrator of the type who did not really reappear until the twentieth century. Obvious as Swift's points are, the novel is thus ripe for deconstruction; the book can be interpreted in a near-endless variety of ways with widely different ramifications despite the clear core. This is a large part of the reason for its continuing popularity with critics as well as the public.
Gulliver is a landmark in many other ways, not least in the novel's history. It was published in 1726, only seven years after Robinson Crusoe, which is generally called the first real Western novel. There is even good reason to think Swift began as early as 1720. Robinson is one of the few books even more popular than Gulliver, but the latter is far superior by any standard; it has virtually everything Robinson has plus far more. Novels of its depth and complexity were not normal for nearly another two centuries; that such a work came practically on the first novel's heels is truly incredible. Also highly noteworthy is how Swift manages to keep a realistic tone despite so many fanciful events - a task far harder than Defoe's with Robinson. This is of course part of the joke and also Swift's jab at the highly apocryphal travelogues then immensely popular; Gulliver is indeed in large part a parody of them, yet another interesting angle and one now nearly forgotten.
The book is also of great historical value. The satire in many ways gives a more realistic glimpse into the important Enlightenment era than a realist work, or even a history, could ever hope to do. We get a good idea of the issues that dominated English, Irish, and European politics as well as other important social matters. Perhaps more importantly, we get a stark glimpse of the thoughts and customs that lead to the atrocities Swift condemns - an invaluable lesson from which we clearly still have much to learn.
Last but not least, Gulliver is an English prose watershed. Swift defined good style as "proper words in proper places" - a seemingly simple, even asinine, definition but one that very few have successfully followed. His prose is plain and straight-forward, as Gulliver himself constantly reiterates, but in the best possible way; few works are so clear and concise. Thus, despite archaic spelling and punctuation, the book reads almost as well as ever; even casual readers who have almost no experience with classics, much less ones of this vintage, can pick it up with practically no trouble. Unlike nearly all classics, it need not be drastically edited, footnoted, and introduced for comprehension. This is hardly true of even many twentieth century works, to say nothing of ones nearly three centuries old. Gulliver is a major part of the reason Swift remains a model for anyone wanting unadorned but transcendently lucid English prose.
Surely nothing more need be said. If one could read only five or ten books, this should be among them. Anyone who has not experienced its wonders should do so without delay.
As for this edition, it is important to realize that, like other Dover Thrift entries, it is bare bones - only a short headnote besides the text. Anyone wanting more will need to look elsewhere, which may be a good idea for general readers, as many of the historical references will be missed. That said, the work more than stands on its own.
A Masterpiece on Many Levels March 28, 2010
Bill R. Moore (New York, USA)
Gulliver's Travels is near-unique in world literature in that it can truly be enjoyed and appreciated by all. It has over the years been seen an adventure, a children's story, a travelogue parody, a political allegory, one of the first novels, and a satirical masterpiece. The book is all this and more, making it one of literature's ten or so truly immortal works, a towering monument as significant and important nearly three hundred years on as ever. It is one of the few books that absolutely everyone should read, and its peculiar greatness is that, perhaps alone among them, nearly everyone will love it.
On the most obvious level it is a rollicking adventure. Swift's imagination is one of the most astounding ever; he invents an incredible diversity of unforgettable places and people, and millions have been enthralled by this alone. The book has even often worked as a children's story - sans crude and heavy elements of course. Those approaching it for the first time are in for a real joy. They simply will not know what comes next and will keep wondrously reading to find out.
Those who really appreciate the novel, though, see that Swift was merely using the adventure frame as a vehicle for his philosophical and political views. Often called misanthropic, a deep distrust of humanity affected everything he did; he was sickened by brutality, avarice, pride, and other vices, which comes across clearly here in many ways. Gulliver unflinchingly depicts many of humanity's shortcomings without excuse or even sympathy; our irrationality, stupidity, ignorance, hypocrisy, and perhaps above all, arrogance are on merciless display. The true mockery is often not so much the horror of our actions as the pettiness of our motives. Despite the light-hearted device, a more fundamentally misanthropic and savagely satirical work has perhaps never been written. Anyone wanting shame-inducing proof of what fools human beings are need look no further.
Yet it is possible to take this too far. As misanthropic as Swift was, he was also one of the era's great liberals - a fierce liberty champion and advocate for the repressed. Those who read closely can see that his hatred lay not with the downtrodden but with those who make them so - monarchs, politicians, judges, lawyers, and other unsavory types. He was sickened by humanity's inhumanity. The almost unbearably dark ending seems to have no hope for meliorism, and the book generally shows human life as an unbroken misery series. Stern Christianity kept Swift from the existential despair that haunted writers and intellectuals about a century and a half later, but one would be very hard-pressed to find a more despairing portrait of the human condition prior to the late nineteenth century.
Again, though, this can be exaggerated. Some parts of the novel are truly light-hearted; there is a wealth of humor, not all of it satirical. There is also a great deal of charming whimsy. Most notable of all, though, is that Swift manages to convey his bitter pill through satire; this is worlds away from the gloomy realist works of the last century plus. Swift is universally known as the greatest English satirist and is one of the greatest ever; he knew how to convey harsh truths in palatable form. The satire ranges from thinly-veiled to subtle. Swift thus lets the real message arise naturally rather than overwhelming the story - a fine line that few can walk straight and that perhaps no one can do as well.
The satire's sophistication has been fully recognized only relatively recently; Gulliver was indeed so far ahead of its time that it was perhaps not even possible for all its nuances to have been appreciated earlier. Careful readers will notice that Gulliver, as his name implies, is very gullible - at least at first, often not seeming to see the full import of what he says. However, he becomes ever more cynical and wizened, and the satirical frame gradually lessens to the point where most of part four is simply outright lashing - almost an essay in dramatic monologue form. Some have criticized this on artistic grounds, saying Swift got carried away or even that he began to lose sanity. However, it is clearly deliberate; the artistic control is stunningly precise. Swift knows how to draw us in, introducing his message gradually until we are so taken that we will keep reading even when hit hard. Such finely-wrought mastery has rarely been shown anywhere, much less in satire. This is also important in character development terms; Gulliver is a very complex - perhaps even unreliable - narrator of the type who did not really reappear until the twentieth century. Obvious as Swift's points are, the novel is thus ripe for deconstruction; the book can be interpreted in a near-endless variety of ways with widely different ramifications despite the clear core. This is a large part of the reason for its continuing popularity with critics as well as the public.
Gulliver is a landmark in many other ways, not least in the novel's history. It was published in 1726, only seven years after Robinson Crusoe, which is generally called the first real Western novel. There is even good reason to think Swift began as early as 1720. Robinson is one of the few books even more popular than Gulliver, but the latter is far superior by any standard; it has virtually everything Robinson has plus far more. Novels of its depth and complexity were not normal for nearly another two centuries; that such a work came practically on the first novel's heels is truly incredible. Also highly noteworthy is how Swift manages to keep a realistic tone despite so many fanciful events - a task far harder than Defoe's with Robinson. This is of course part of the joke and also Swift's jab at the highly apocryphal travelogues then immensely popular; Gulliver is indeed in large part a parody of them, yet another interesting angle and one now nearly forgotten.
The book is also of great historical value. The satire in many ways gives a more realistic glimpse into the important Enlightenment era than a realist work, or even a history, could ever hope to do. We get a good idea of the issues that dominated English, Irish, and European politics as well as other important social matters. Perhaps more importantly, we get a stark glimpse of the thoughts and customs that lead to the atrocities Swift condemns - an invaluable lesson from which we clearly still have much to learn.
Last but not least, Gulliver is an English prose watershed. Swift defined good style as "proper words in proper places" - a seemingly simple, even asinine, definition but one that very few have successfully followed. His prose is plain and straight-forward, as Gulliver himself constantly reiterates, but in the best possible way; few works are so clear and concise. Thus, despite archaic spelling and punctuation, the book reads almost as well as ever; even casual readers who have almost no experience with classics, much less ones of this vintage, can pick it up with practically no trouble. Unlike nearly all classics, it need not be drastically edited, footnoted, and introduced for comprehension. This is hardly true of even many twentieth century works, to say nothing of ones nearly three centuries old. Gulliver is a major part of the reason Swift remains a model for anyone wanting unadorned but transcendently lucid English prose.
Surely nothing more need be said. If one could read only five or ten books, this should be among them. Anyone who has not experienced its wonders should do so without delay.
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