Despite having had a rather troubled editorial history (several editions with as many revisions between 1726 and 1735), Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World is considered the masterpiece of the Irish writer Jonathan Swift.

However, from the very beginning, its fantastic element was minimized and it was considered as children's literature.

Even today, to be honest, the most widespread opinion - which the cinema has contributed to - is that it is a light and comic work.

Some people have heard that, in reality, it is a satire, but only by reading it can one enter the depth of a social and political analysis that has often surprised me for the modernity of thought.

In 1699, Lemuel Gulliver embarks as a doctor on a ship bound for the South Seas.

Thus begins an adventure that - with some returns home - will lead the protagonist to know unimaginable worlds and civilizations.

It starts from the well-known island of Lilliput and ends in the kingdom of the Houyhnhnms, the horses that talk and reason and are esteemed by Gulliver as a superior race to the human one.

In the wake of an abundant travel literature, Swift makes a parody by ridiculing the accounts of those who claim to be travelers but in reality only publish works that add nothing to knowledge.

Gulliver is a doctor, he knows, in his own way, the organisms, but as he travels, he opens up to the possibility of knowing the other in its essence.

From the height of human presumption, he looks at and judges the small Lilliputians and each time he will have to face other peoples and forms of life, changing the proportions and the position of his gaze.

This idea that underlies the work, I believe, is brilliant in an era when surely having a global perception of humanity and free from prejudices was much more difficult.

I cannot deny that, in some points, the narrative seems pedantic (reason why it lacks a star), but it is still surprising for the so accurate analyses even two hundred years later:

“How many innocent and worthy persons have been condemned to death or exile for the pressures of prime ministers on corrupt judges or for the malice of factions! How many scoundrels have been raised to the highest positions of trust, command, honor and profit! ”

Wonderful is the scathing indignation with which Swift describes the colonizations:

” For example, a band of pirates is driven by a storm God knows where; finally a lad spies land from the top of the mainmast; they land to plunder and sack; they find an unarmed people; they are welcomed with kindness; they give the country a new name; they formally take possession of it in the name of their King; they put up a board or a stone in memory of the fact; they kill two or three dozen natives, carry off a couple of them by force as specimens, return home and are pardoned. From this begins a new dominion acquired by divine right. Ships are sent at the first opportunity; the inhabitants are driven out or exterminated; their chiefs are tortured to reveal their treasures; every cruelty and every luxury is authorized, the land smokes with the blood of the inhabitants: and such a vile crew of cormorants employed in such a pious expedition is what constitutes a modern colony sent to convert and civilize a barbarous and idolatrous people.
But I must say that such a description cannot in any way refer to the English nation, which can be an example to the whole world for the wisdom, care and justice that inspire it in founding colonies;”

Gulliver's Travels is a classic work of children's literature, and I have always approached it from this perspective. However, I believe that when Swift wrote it, he did not have children in mind as his intended audience. Therefore, I think the book should be presented in a slightly different way.

The book is divided into four parts, each chronicling one of Lemuel Gulliver's voyages. Gulliver is a doctor on a ship at the end of the seventeenth century. The first voyage is the most famous, taking him to the island of Lilliput. After a shipwreck, Gulliver reaches this island where everything, including the people, is much smaller than normal. He is captured by the tiny inhabitants, who turn out to be very kind. They offer him hospitality, feed him, and he agrees to help them in their war against their enemies. The two peoples have been at war for years over the correct way to break eggs, whether on the large side or the small side. Gulliver helps them win, but when he urinates on the burning Lilliputian Palace to put out the fire, he is condemned to death for outrage. He manages to escape by sea and is picked up by a ship and taken back to England.

The second trip is to Brobdingnag, where the opposite is true, and everything is much bigger than normal. Gulliver is caught by a 22-meter-tall man who takes him around as a circus oddity to make money. One day, Gulliver is put up for sale and the Queen buys him. He becomes the toy of the king's daughter, and they even make a bespoke box for him that becomes his home, like a dollhouse. However, one day, Gulliver's box is clawed by an eagle and dropped into the sea. He manages to jump into the water and is then saved by a ship that takes him back to England.

The third trip is the most complex, as Gulliver visits various strange places. He starts on Laputa, a flying island inhabited only by scientists, where there is an obstinately rational law that proves absurd and inapplicable in everyday life. The inhabitants of Laputa oppress the people of Balnibarbi, where Gulliver deepens his understanding of a world ruined by science and reason, losing sight of practicality. Exhilarating examples include projects to extract the sun's rays from cucumbers or to soften marble to make cushions.

Shortly after, Gulliver goes to the island of Glubdubdrid, an island "in the past" where he has face-to-face discussions with Homer, Aristotle, and Julius Caesar. He realizes that they are much less "great" than they are depicted in history books, which disappoints him. Finally, he visits the island of Luggnagg, where he meets the "struldbrugs," or "immortals." These are men who, like characters from the Divine Comedy, are not allowed to die or be eternally young and are in a pitiful state.

On his last voyage, Gulliver is the captain of a ship, but during the journey, the sailors mutiny and leave him on a land inhabited by Yahoo, monstrous beings between man and monkey. They are dominated by the Houyhnhnm, intelligent horses. The horses look at Gulliver strangely, and he desperately tries to convince them that he is not part of the ape breed. However, the Supreme Council of Horses decrees otherwise and forces him to leave. Back in England, Gulliver bitterly reflects on how difficult it is for him to re-enter a "normal" world made up of people who should be his kind but whom he does not find similar at all.

This is a somewhat disturbing book that can be read through the eyes of a child but is appreciated much more as an adult. Swift despises humanity in general, is disgusted by certain human attitudes, and condemns man for how he interprets and distorts culture, religion, politics, and science. Ultimately, he represents man almost as a Yahoo. Gulliver's various journeys are different ways of seeing reality, ultimately leading to a very negative judgment on man, his pride, and his inability to see how bestial and primitive his instincts are, which he insists on presenting as culture, rationality, and progress. This amusing and seemingly light book contains a very harsh condemnation of a society that exalts reason beyond the limit and has no moral limitations in the name of progress. Gulliver also experiences diversity in his travels, finding himself bigger than others, then smaller, then more intelligent, then almost wild, and even a pet. He acts and reacts according to the events, but in the end, he always comes to the bitter conclusion that man is a beast. I think that each of us, from time to time, has the same impression.

It’s truly one of the more peculiar phenomena that Gulliver’s Travels is so often regarded as a fantastical adventure meant to delight children. In reality, it is one of the most scathing condemnations of human beings to ever grace the printed page. The Reverend Swift is a virtuoso of misanthropic satire. Even with the extensive arsenal of footnotes (as exhaustively provided by this wonderful Oxford Classics edition), which are essential for a comprehensive reading of GT, the discerning reader still struggles to keep up with the vast array of the Author’s targets. In Swift’s world, nothing is held sacred, except perhaps that faint glimmer of reason that most people spend their entire lives attempting to extinguish.

The plot of the book is rather familiar to most. It seems like an innocuous account of the travels and hardships of a polite and resourceful British naval surgeon as he visits exotic places not found on any early 18th-century map. However, what many people overlook (including all those young ones who have watched subpar movie adaptations, like the one starring Jack Black) is that as Gulliver progresses through his adventures with tiny people, giants, and cities in the sky, he gradually loses heart in his sincere efforts to explain and defend his country’s social and moral norms. By the end of the novel, he is overcome with bitterness and disgust for the human race. The crucial point of Swift’s argument – which, as he proclaims in a letter to his pen pal, Alexander Pope, is to demonstrate that there is nothing rational about humans as rational animals – is delivered in Gulliver’s final journey to a utopia where talking horses embody all the ideals we supposedly uphold, while humans are merely a group of savage Yahoos. What follows is one of the most derogatory conclusions about the human condition that this particular reader has ever come across.

It serves as a hilarious yet sobering remedy for any wayward soul who still has faith in humanity.

This was my absolute favorite classic during my childhood, and don't even bother asking me the reason! When I re-read it as an adult, it didn't really give the impression of a book that a child would typically enjoy. Oh well, I guess I was just drawn to all that talk about poop and pee!

I'm not exactly a big fan of satire and political science. In fact, I think it's nearly impossible to fully grasp a book like this one, which is so firmly entrenched in the society it was written in. However, overall, I still believe it's highly enjoyable for a modern reader and an important - albeit rather strange - classic of literature. The absurdity of the society that Swift描绘s, the imagination he showcases, and the crazy ideas he incorporates into this work still manage to astonish me even after re-reading it for at least the third time! This is probably one of those odd books that everyone loves, but you just can't quite put your finger on the exact reason why. Maybe it's because deep down, we're all a little gullible...

Gulliver is us, after all. The peripatetic ship’s surgeon Lemuel Gulliver experiences what all of us experience who share his wanderlust. He travels to new lands, experiences the new and different in the culture and customs of the people there, and applies his observations of those new lands to his own homeland.

In Jonathan Swift’s time, travel narratives regarding destinations that were “new lands” to the people of 17th-century Europe were a popular genre. However, none of those real-life travel stories had the power or influence of Swift’s fictional narrative Gulliver’s Travels (1726). In this book, travel to fictional destinations provides Swift with the opportunity to anatomize and satirize the English society of his time.

A graduate of Trinity College Dublin and an ordained Church of Ireland cleric, Swift described himself as “a Whig in politics and a Tory in religion.” This state of mind, which might seem a contradiction to some, served him well when it came to the masterworks of satire he composed throughout his literary career. In works like A Tale of a Tub (1704), A Modest Proposal (1729), and of course Gulliver’s Travels, Swift satirized Enlightenment rationalism as often as he lampooned the follies and corruption of the politicians and governments of his time.

The storytelling pattern of Gulliver’s Travels is deceptively simple, with a recurring pattern that has made it a favorite of readers young and old for almost 300 years now. It is similar to the seven voyages of Sinbad from The 1001 Nights. Gulliver signs on for a voyage; the voyage goes wrong, stranding him in a strange and unknown land; he undergoes strange and unusual adventures, survives them, and returns home with new knowledge. Then, eventually, he gets the itch to travel again.

The first and best-known of Gulliver’s adventures takes place in the land of Lilliput. Here, human beings are tiny and Gulliver is a giant. Shipwrecked on the Lilliputian coast, an exhausted Gulliver falls asleep on the beach and wakes up tied down by the Lilliputians. He frees himself and proves to them that he is not an enemy. Gulliver’s Lilliputian interlude provides Swift with opportunities for political satire, as when a Lilliputian minister explains a controversy over how to break an egg.

At the same time, the Lilliputians seem to have the better of the British in other aspects of their government. Gulliver points out that they have more regard for good morals than for great abilities when choosing people for all employments. This makes one wonder if it might work better in many contemporary democracies if public service was seen as a part-time duty rather than a permanent full-time career.

Ultimately, Gulliver survives his adventures in Lilliput and returns to England having prospered from the journey. But, like Sinbad, he finds that his insatiable desire to see foreign countries will not let him stay at home for long. He sets off on another voyage and is shipwrecked in the land of Brobdingnag, where the people are giants compared to him.

One of the intriguing qualities of Gulliver’s Travels is the way Swift emphasizes how each of his journeys changes Gulliver’s perspective. In Brobdingnag, being up close to the giants makes Gulliver acutely conscious of the flaws and imperfections in their skin. He also learns a healthy sense of perspective when he realizes how vain it is for a man to try to do himself honor among those who are out of all degree of equality or comparison with him.

When the King of Brobdingnag asks Gulliver about his society, Gulliver dutifully complies. The king’s response is that human affairs seem to be a heap of conspiracies, rebellions, murders, and other evils. This assessment is similar to what many historians might say. The King sums up his impressions of humankind by telling Gulliver that he concludes the bulk of his natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.

Gulliver once again returns home safely, but his wanderlust takes him back to sea. After a pirate attack and being marooned on an island, he finds himself beholding the floating island of Laputa. In his sketching of the relationship between the rulers on Laputa and their subjects on Balnibarbi, one senses Swift’s commentary on social hierarchy.

The abysmal state of scientific “experimentation” in these lands gives Gulliver little reason to stay. In Glubdubdrib, by contrast, he gets to descend into the abyss and converse with illustrious people of antiquity. This serves to establish how far modern leaders and thinkers have fallen from their classical forebears.

And the fourth and final of Gulliver’s voyages is to the land of the Houyhnhnms, noble horse-like creatures who live by the rule of reason. They are served by Yahoos, filthy and primitive human-like creatures. When Gulliver describes the cruelty and knavery of which human beings are capable, his Houyhnhnm host is appalled. Over time, Gulliver comes to share the Houyhnhnms’ grim view of humankind.

Gulliver’s Travels succeeds as trenchant satire, but it is also a great adventure story. It is part of the reason for its enduring popularity as a book for young readers and its frequent adaptation for cinema and TV. One need not agree with Swift’s unremittingly bleak view of human character and human potential to enjoy this classic of world literature.

A book that has been so extremely 'cartoonified' that you could potentially find it quite challenging to come to terms with the actual book. I'm rather happy to have it removed from my to-read list!

Question: Is this book the very first one to utilize the term 'Yahoo(s)?' This particular book has become so deeply ingrained within our collective consciousness. Just recently, I witnessed an episode of Lost in Space that seemed to have borrowed elements from this story!

It truly is a classic that still merits a great deal of consideration when the political metaphors within it are carefully deciphered. There is so much depth and hidden meaning that can be uncovered, making it a book that continues to be relevant and thought-provoking even in modern times.

\\n  \\"The rats on board carried away one of my sheep;\\"\\n



\\n  \\"Care and vigilance, with a very common understanding, may preserve a man’s goods from thieves, but honesty has no defence against superior cunning;\\"\\n



It turns out that my initial perception of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels was completely off the mark. To be honest, my previous view was solely based on a children's cartoon I had watched years ago. However, the book presents a stark contrast to that lighthearted adaptation with its一群Lilliputians in every imaginable way. Indeed, the humor is still present, but it delves into human nature on a much more complex level.



I'm not entirely accustomed to this type of satirical prose, so it took me some time to get the hang of it. At first, I was rather confused as to why the author would employ such a complex writing style for a children's book. But it soon became evident that this work is even more sophisticated than the average YA book. Swift's witty remarks on general human behavior are quite intricate, and he doesn't shy away from expressing his observations about society at that time, even going so far as to make several offensive comments.



The book is a compilation of four different adventures. Each subsection follows a similar pattern: Gulliver gets shipwrecked and arrives on an island inhabited by a strange civilization. He then proceeds to learn their culture and languages, providing a detailed description of the inhabitants from his own perspective. In my opinion, this is done masterfully, never once betraying the fact that Gulliver's perspective is not entirely authentic. However, after a while, the identical sequence of events that occurs after the initial encounter does start to feel repetitive, making the book more of a 3-star read. But, since all of this brought back memories of the time I watched the cartoon long ago, I couldn't help but add another star.



\\n  \\"Whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.\\"\\n



\\n  \\"Truth always forces its way into rational minds,\\"\\n

**"The Four Voyages of Gulliver"**

Gulliver's Travels consists of four voyages. Each time, like Sindbad the Sailor, Gulliver goes on a sea journey, but a storm or other events cause him to land on an unknown island.

**The First Voyage: Lilliput**
Gulliver wakes up on the shore and finds his hands and feet tied to the ground with ropes, and thousands of tiny people gathering around him. This is the most famous scene in the book. The Lilliputians represent small and insignificant people. Their wars are insignificant, their ideas are insignificant, their lives are insignificant. And the contrast between these conditions and Gulliver's enormity creates a comical situation.

**The Second Voyage: Brobdingnag**
Gulliver lives in the house of a farmer's daughter in Brobdingnag. The girl is as tall and strong as a giant. This is another well-known scene in the book. The giants of Brobdingnag, in contrast to the Lilliputians, represent big people. Their king spends hours talking with Gulliver, asking about human customs and being amazed at human stupidity.
These two voyages are full of adventures and are very funny. It seems that the author's enthusiasm decreases a little after these two parts.
**The Third Voyage: Laputa**
If you have seen the beautiful Japanese animation "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" by Hayao Miyazaki, you will know that this animation was inspired by this part of Gulliver's Travels, although they have no connection in terms of content. Laputa is a desolate and poor land, but it is full of scholars who, instead of solving people's problems, deal with abstract and useless issues. Meanwhile, the king's flying island, with its philosopher residents, travels above the clouds and is ignorant of the real life of the people on the ground.
**The Fourth Voyage: The Country of the Houyhnhnms**
The intelligent and speaking horses in this country enslave the wild and ignorant humans (called "Yahoos"). This chapter is completely educational in nature, and far from the humorous adventures of the first two chapters, it only criticizes human vices.
**Why Did I Read This Book?**
A famous astrophysicist recommended eight books that every educated and intelligent person should read. I had read some of the books on this list (such as "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli and "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu), but not others (such as "On the Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin and "The Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith).
Based on the image I had of the animation "Gulliver's Travels" ("I knew from the beginning..." and Captain Lemuel Gulliver and his crew reading the map of Gulliver's treasures), I never thought the book was special. When I saw its name on this list, I was surprised. And since it was available, I picked it up and found that many elements of the animation did not exist in the book, and most of the events in the animation were created and imagined by the animators.
Of course, the book was very good, but I declare from this very place that it did not deserve its place on that list, and if I were the one making the list, I would have put other more important books in its place.

Link to the list of eight books: http://www.openculture.com/2011/12/ne...

This book, together with Robinson Crusoe and The Scarlet Letter, constitutes an unholy trinity of the driest and dullest classics I have ever had the misfortune to read.

I have no in-depth knowledge of the British political system in the 18th century - in fact, I'm not even remotely familiar with it - nor do I have any particular inclination to be. So, it's obvious that the satire in this book completely eluded me. However, even taking that into account, the book could still have been engaging. But alas, it was not. There was an excessive amount of measuring and an overabundance of minutiae. And for someone who constantly used the phrase \\"I will not trouble the reader with\\"... well, you sure as hell troubled me with a whole lot of crap.

I am absolutely thrilled to have finally completed this book, having started it three weeks short of a year ago. I almost shed tears of pure joy when, believing I had another twenty pages to go, I turned the e-page only to discover a biography of Swift. My agony had finally come to an end. Halle-fucking-lujah!

The book “Gulliver's Travels” has been on my bookshelf since 2004, when I collected a reasonable number of classics. Curiously, I read most of those books and this one remained unread.

I had a general idea about the story, but I ended up having some surprises and not all of them were pleasant.

I understand the criticism of the society of that time, but considering an overall view, I found everything rather unpleasant.

I realized, and correct me if I'm wrong, that this book is recommended for a younger audience. If I had read this book at 14 as was my goal, probably, I would have given up halfway.

Now, I have finished reading and I think I will keep this story in my mind. Not because it was a spectacular book, but because of the unpleasant descriptions and the pessimistic view of the writer.

This book has made me think about how different perspectives can shape our understanding of a story. It also shows how literature can reflect the social and political context of its time. While I may not have enjoyed every aspect of “Gulliver's Travels”, it has still managed to leave an impression on me.

I wonder if other readers have had similar experiences or if they have found different meanings and interpretations in the book. Maybe I will revisit it in the future and see if my perspective has changed.

Overall, “Gulliver's Travels” is a classic that has stood the test of time, but it may not be for everyone.

Re-Read.

And yet, this will forever be a fantastic 4-part novel, neigh, a glorious satire.

Most of us have seen or heard of parts of Gulliver's Travels. Alas, it is usually only in terms of a giant beset by little-minded little-people so stuffed up with self-importance that they can never see the proverbial giant in their living room. Or, in the second part, a little person trapped in a horrible commerce grinding machine filled with giants.

But to me, I'm a huge fan of the 3rd part. Here, huge minds are trapped in their own vices and certainties, living in floating castles in the skies, unable to see the truth under their feet.

But honestly? It's the fourth part that shines the brightest. In this part, the smartest, most wise horses enslave the dirty, brutish, trashy Yahoos (humans), and Gulliver finally succumbs to the worldview of his new masters.

There is nothing more brilliant than the pride of self-hate, of decrying everything in yourself or your people, to bemoan the very sense of our own purity or goodness, to place the biggest capstone on this great edifice of satire.

What? Isn't it OBVIOUS that we're all the greatest dumbshits, assholes, backwards-minded, filth-wallowing, UNWORTHY species on the planet? -- Ahhh, neigh, you've been listening too long to these damn horses.

We are everything.

But that means, we're also better than we think.

But I also admit... the first time I read this, I, too, fell into the trap of the 4th. :) Careful! Some satires are STRONG. Neigh... brilliant. :)

I really, truly hated the main character. From the very beginning, he rubbed me the wrong way. His actions were often self-centered and his attitude was just plain off-putting. I found myself constantly frustrated with him and couldn't seem to look past his flaws. It was as if he was the only thing in the story that mattered, and I just couldn't get into it because of him. I tried to give him a chance, to see if there was more to him than met the eye, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't. He was like a big, dark cloud that blocked out everything else in the story. I hope that as the story progresses, he will change and become a more likable character, but for now, I'm just not feeling it.