Gulliver's Travels - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
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About Google Book Search Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world’s books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web at http://books.google.com/ 1 Gulliver's Travels - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver's_Travels Gulliver's Travels From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Gulliver's Travels Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships , better known simply as Gulliver's Travels (1726, amended 1735), is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the "travellers' tales" literary sub-genre. It is Swift's best known full-length work, and a classic of English literature. The book became popular as soon as it was published. John Gay wrote in a 1726 letter to Swift that "It is universally read, from the cabinet council to the nursery." [1] Since then, it has never been out of print. First edition of Gulliver's Travels Cavehill in Belfast is thought to have inspired part of book Author Jonathan Swift two of the novel. Swift imagined that the mountain resembled the shape of a sleeping giant safeguarding the Original title Travels into Several Remote Nations city. [2] of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of several Ships Contents Country Ireland Language English 1 Plot summary Genre Satire, fantasy 1.1 Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput Publisher Benjamin Motte 1.2 Part II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag Publication 1726 1.3 Part III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, date Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan Media type Print 1.4 Part IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms 2 Composition and history 2.1 Faulkner's 1735 edition 2.2 Lindalino 3 Major themes 3.1 Character analysis 4 Cultural influences 5 In other works 5.1 Sequels and imitations 5.2 Allusions 6 Adaptations 1 of 13 11/26/2014 11:09 PM Gulliver's Travels - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver's_Travels 6.1 Music 6.2 Film, television and radio 7 See also 8 References 9 External links 9.1 Online text Plot summary Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput 4 May 1699 [3] – 13 April 1702 [4] The book begins with a short preamble in which Lemuel Gulliver, in the style of books of the time, gives a brief outline of his life and history before his voyages. He enjoys travelling, although it is that love of travel that is his downfall. During his first voyage, Gulliver is washed ashore after a shipwreck and finds himself a prisoner of a race of tiny people, less than 6 inches tall, who are inhabitants of the island country of Lilliput. After giving assurances of his good behaviour, he is given a residence in Lilliput and becomes a favourite of the court. From there, the book follows Gulliver's observations on the Court of Lilliput. He is also given the permission to roam around the city on a condition that he Mural depicting Gulliver surrounded must not harm their subjects. Gulliver assists the Lilliputians to subdue by citizens of Lilliput. their neighbours, the Blefuscudians, by stealing their fleet. However, he refuses to reduce the island nation of Blefuscu to a province of Lilliput, displeasing the King and the court. Gulliver is charged with treason for, among other crimes, "making water" (urination) in the capital, though he was putting out a fire and saving countless lives. He is convicted and sentenced to be blinded, but with the assistance of a kind friend, he escapes to Blefuscu. Here he spots and retrieves an abandoned boat and sails out to be rescued by a passing ship, which safely takes him back home. This book of the Travels is a topical political satire. Part II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag 20 June 1702 [5] – 3 June 1706 [6] When the sailing ship Adventure is blown off course by storms and forced to sail for land in search of fresh water, Gulliver is abandoned by his companions and found by a farmer who is 72 feet (22 m) tall (the scale of Brobdingnag is about 12:1, compared to Lilliput's 1:12, judging from Gulliver estimating a man's step being 10 yards (9.1 m)). He brings Gulliver home and his daughter cares for Gulliver. The farmer treats him as a curiosity and exhibits him for money. After a while the constant shows make Lemuel sick, and the farmer sells him to the queen of the realm. The farmer's daughter (who accompanied her father while exhibiting Gulliver) is taken into the queen's service to take care of the tiny man. Since Gulliver is too small to use their huge chairs, beds, knives and forks, the queen commissions a small house to be built for him so that he can be carried around in it; this is referred to as his 'travelling box'. Between small adventures such as fighting giant wasps and being carried to 2 of 13 11/26/2014 11:09 PM Gulliver's Travels - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver's_Travels the roof by a monkey, he discusses the state of Europe with the King. The King is not happy with Gulliver's accounts of Europe, especially upon learning of the use of guns and cannons. On a trip to the seaside, his travelling box is seized by a giant eagle which drops Gulliver and his box into the sea, where he is picked up by some sailors, who return him to England. This book compares the truly moral man to the representative man; the latter is clearly shown to be the lesser of the two. Swift, being in Anglican holy orders, was keen to make such comparisons. Part III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Gulliver Exhibited to the Glubbdubdrib, and Japan Brobdingnag Farmer (painting by Richard Redgrave) 5 August 1706 [7] – 16 April 1710 [8] After Gulliver's ship was attacked by pirates, he is marooned close to a desolate rocky island near India. Fortunately, he is rescued by the flying island of Laputa, a kingdom devoted to the arts of music and mathematics but unable to use them for practical ends. Laputa's custom of throwing rocks down at rebellious cities on the ground seems the first time that the air strike was conceived as a method of warfare. Gulliver tours Balnibarbi, the kingdom ruled from Laputa, as the guest of a low-ranking courtier and sees the ruin brought about by the blind pursuit of science without practical results, in a satire on bureaucracy and on the Royal Society and its experiments.