Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels

by Jonathan Swift

Comprised of four parts, Gulliver’s Travels documents the bizarre, yet fascinating voyages of Lemuel Gulliver as he makes his way through several uncharted destinations, experiencing the lives of the small, the giant, the scientific, and downright eccentric societies. Narrated in first person, Swift successfully portrays Gulliver’s thoughts and reactions as he faces struggles of integration throughout his travels. Beginning with the introduction of Gulliver, an educated ship’s surgeon, who after a series of unfortunate events is victim to repeated shipwrecks, desertions, and set adrift. His first of several misadventures sees him washed up on the shores of Lilliput, home to the less than six inches tall Lilliputians, where he wakes up to the sounds of scurrying beneath him. However, roles are reversed when his misfortunes lead him to Brobdingnag, a land occupied by giants where he must experience life as an inferior and fragile being. Subsequently, he comes across a society of oppressive theoreticians, and finally an intellectual, superior race. Divided between the known and the unknown, Gulliver must put aside his prejudgments and experience the unfamiliar societies first hand. As the novel gradually progresses, the transformation of the narrator becomes evident as he draws conclusions from each and every one of his adventures. Written by the master of satire, Jonathan Swift has not only created a story of adventure, but also cunningly attacks the mere nature of society in between its lines. Abuse of power, criticism of human nature, politics, and individualism are just some of the themes explored during the enlightening journeys of the venturesome Gulliver. Swift’s witty use of metaphors and satirical style serves as a puzzle waiting to be solved. An adventure story for the young, but a critical piece for the mature, the novel has a bit of everything and appeals to all age groups. The details in which the locations are described, the escapism it offers, and its openness to interpretation is what makes Gulliver’s Travels a timeless piece of literature.

Book Details

Language

English

Original Language

English

Published In

1726

Authors

Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver's Travels (1726), and A Modest Proposal (1729). He is regarded by the Encyclo...

Books by Jonathan Swift

Listen/Download Audiobook

Read by:
00:00
Playback Speed 1.0
00:00
  • Select Speed

Related books

Stolen Bacillus and other stories Cover image

Stolen Bacillus and other stories by H. G. Wells

This collection of 15 humorous short stories by H. G. Wells, the original master of speculative fiction, showcases a blend of fantasy, science fiction...

Dark Moon Cover image

Dark Moon by Charles Willard Diffin

Dark Moon tells the tale of three brave Earthlings who find themselves drawn into a bewildering and thrilling adventure when a strange, new satellite...

Knyght Ther Was Cover image

Knyght Ther Was by Robert F. Young

In a future where time travel is a reality, Tom Mallory is a time-thief who travels back to 542 to retrieve the Holy Grail. However, his journey is no...

Ministry of Disturbance Cover image

Ministry of Disturbance by H. Beam Piper

Ministry of Disturbance is a humorous science fiction novel that takes place in a stagnant interstellar empire where nothing new is allowed to happen....

Voyage Out Cover image

Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf

The Voyage Out is the first novel by Virginia Woolf, published in 1915 by Duckworth; and published in the U.S. in 1920 by Doran. One of Woolf's wittie...

Gulliver of Mars Cover image

Gulliver of Mars by Edwin Lester Arnold

This escapist novel first published in 1905 as Lieutenant Gullivar Jones: His Vacation follows the exploits of American Navy Lieutenant Gulliver Jones...

2 B R 0 2 B Cover image

2 B R 0 2 B by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a prolific and genre-bending American novelist known for works blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction, such as Slau...

Totenstadt Cover image

Totenstadt by Robert Kraft

Die Totenstadt erschien 1901 im Rahmen der 10 Hefte umfassenden Serie „Aus dem Reiche der Phantasie“, wobei jedes Heft eine abgeschlossene Geschichte...

The Wood Beyond the World  Cover image

The Wood Beyond the World by William Morris

When the wife of Golden Walter betrays him for another man, he leaves home on a trading voyage to avoid the necessity of a feud with her family.

Fire People Cover image

Fire People by Ray Cummings

The book "Fire People" is a science fiction novel that explores the possibility of intelligent life existing on the planet Mercury. Professor Newland,...

Reviews for Gulliver's Travels

No reviews posted or approved, yet...