Gulliver's Travels

Jonathan Swift

Jan 1912 · Rand, McNally

About this eBook

In Jonathan Swift's most celebrated book, surgeon Lemuel Gulliver takes to the open seas and winds up shipwrecked on the island kingdom of Lilliput. Gulliver is a giant to the tiny Lilliputians. They take him prisoner, but he eventually gains their trust and escapes. Gulliver's adventure continues when he journeys to the lands of the giant Brobdingnags, meets the aloof academics of the floating empire Laputa, confronts the aristocratic horses the Houyhnhnms, and grapples with the idiotic Yahoos. Swift's tale is an insightful political fantasy puncturing pretension, and it has charmed and befuddled generations of readers both young and old.

Ratings and reviews

Ignore the bad reviews. These come from people who don't understand the history of the piece, or it's place in English literature. Far from being the children's story that it's often presented as, Gulliver's Travels is in fact a dark and satirical exploration of what's wrong with various different societies... It's predictive of weapons of absolute destruction, and the "cute" Lilliputians discuss ways of killing Gulliver including chemical weapons that would cause him to tear off his own skin. Not exactly children's fodder. Anyone coming at without understanding that Swift was a satirist of the first order, and deeply disappointed in humanity will come unstuck. Read it with an open mind, and you'll be shocked just how relevant this political piece is today.

Another in a long list of classic novels that I promised myself I would read. Mostly enjoyable, but the rambling storylines concerning political bumblings, social missteps, class differences and the like grew tiresome. I know that at the time this was considered a satire but to me it felt like two stories crammed together. An enjoyable science fiction/fantasy story and a tediously long political manifesto.

This is a story most famous for its opening scene, a man tied down by a tiny army. This scene, however, is really the most reasonable and easy to grasp in the book. It takes the reader on wild fantastical journeys, while never losing the honest travelogue feel. Swift is not afraid to let his political and philosophical opinions show through, though he coats them with a thick layer of parody that keeps the tone light. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys adventurous journeys to the unknown.

About the author

Jonathan Swift, born in 1667, was an Irish writer and political pamphleteer best known for his wildly inventive socio-political satire about the English everyman Gulliver and his bizarre travels engaging with various citizens both human and non-human. Although Swift was an ordained Anglican priest, his talents as a writer were formidable. Religion became his target for the satire A Tale of the Tub, and he deftly attacked good taste with his scathing A Modest Proposal.