← All books
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift · 1726
Buy on Amazon
A parody of traveler’s tales and a satire of human nature, “Gulliver’s Travels” is Jonathan Swift’s most famous work which was first published in 1726. An immensely popular tale ever since its original publication, “Gulliver’s Travels” is the story of its titular character, Lemuel Gulliver, a man who loves to travel. A series of four journeys are detailed in which Gulliver finds himself in a number of amusing and precarious situations. In the first voyage, Gulliver is imprisoned by a race of tiny people, the Lilliputians, when following a shipwreck he is washed upon the shores of their island country. In his second voyage Gulliver finds himself abandoned in Brobdingnag, a land of giants, where he is exhibited for their amusement.…
Recommended by
"to learn, among other satirical lessons, that most of the time humans are Yahoos."
Eight Books Every Intelligent Person Should Read ·
reddit.com
"In the first place, it is very funny. We read it first as an adventure story, when we were kids, without understanding the political context in Europe or the philosophical context. Then when we read it again as adults we realise that Swift is having a good deal of fun here. Just the religious allegory with the Big-enders and the Little-enders and the idea of people who live forever. And don’t they just turn out to be the kind of people who live forever today? They show every sign of Alzheimer’s. I was about 14, I think. It was a little bit of a slog, but such a good story that I pushed forward with it. Swift’s take on human nature is evergreen. Whether people would use horses anymore as the perfection of nature, I don’t know. I don’t suppose we’re as familiar with them as Swift was; we’d use dogs or cats. No, not cats. There’s something a little wicked about cats."
"Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" (1726). I often find myself reflecting on the odd assortment of characters that Lemuel Gulliver met during his travels."