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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
slow-paced
adventurous
If anything, my feelings are strong for this book. This isn’t a half hearted, couldn’t decide what to rate it, 3 star rating. No. I feel like 3 is the mean of my love and hate for the novel.
Having an 18th century scholar guide me through the book made complete digestion possible. Without some reference to the political climate at the time of Swift’s writing, the book loses most of if magic. But, that’s also the problem—the satire is so embedded that the reader can easily and understandably forget the bigger picture as an adventure tale. But, then again, is that a flaw on the writing? The creativity and originality is unprecedented. The pace of the novel is inspiring too, if not a peace offering for the winding and disorienting sentences.
For all its flaws, this is a great novel that helps to fully unlock the political climate of the period piece.
Having an 18th century scholar guide me through the book made complete digestion possible. Without some reference to the political climate at the time of Swift’s writing, the book loses most of if magic. But, that’s also the problem—the satire is so embedded that the reader can easily and understandably forget the bigger picture as an adventure tale. But, then again, is that a flaw on the writing? The creativity and originality is unprecedented. The pace of the novel is inspiring too, if not a peace offering for the winding and disorienting sentences.
For all its flaws, this is a great novel that helps to fully unlock the political climate of the period piece.
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I picked this up to do a re-read. Out side of the Lilliput part of the story, I remember little about this. I read it over 20 years ago.
The book is several different stories told by Gulliver on his wild travels. They are:
1. Lilliput - the most famous one people know this story for
2. Brobdingnag - the opposite of lilliput. He goes to a land of giants
3. Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Japan
4. Houyhnhnms
If this book had just been about Lilliput and Brobdingnag - it would have been a 4 star read for me, but taking the whole into account and it's barely 3 stars.
There are weird things that happen all through this story. In Lilliput, the royal quarters are set on fire and Gulliver rushes to helps. He urinates on the building to put out the fire. The queen is so upset about this that they want to blind Gulliver.
The first two parts are interesting. Starting in Part 3, things get very slow and somewhat miserable. Jonathan is a wonderful writer and that is something, but it was miserable trying to get through the end. I can't believe I got through this as a kid.
By the time we were in the land of the Houyhnhnms and he was describing the hair around their beasts anus and their utters, I was just done. It was horrible. The end became a torture. I was so glad to be done with this book. I'm surprised I don't give it a lower star.
I know this is supposed to be satire, but I don't know what was happening back in the 1700s enough to get the references. I can't really enjoy the satire.
One thing, I will never read this book again. If anyone asks. If you know European history and love Satire, then you might enjoy this book. All others should read the first two parts and put the book down.
The last two parts would be a good torture devise for someone you don't like. Just make them listen to it.
The book is several different stories told by Gulliver on his wild travels. They are:
1. Lilliput - the most famous one people know this story for
2. Brobdingnag - the opposite of lilliput. He goes to a land of giants
3. Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Japan
4. Houyhnhnms
If this book had just been about Lilliput and Brobdingnag - it would have been a 4 star read for me, but taking the whole into account and it's barely 3 stars.
There are weird things that happen all through this story. In Lilliput, the royal quarters are set on fire and Gulliver rushes to helps. He urinates on the building to put out the fire. The queen is so upset about this that they want to blind Gulliver.
The first two parts are interesting. Starting in Part 3, things get very slow and somewhat miserable. Jonathan is a wonderful writer and that is something, but it was miserable trying to get through the end. I can't believe I got through this as a kid.
By the time we were in the land of the Houyhnhnms and he was describing the hair around their beasts anus and their utters, I was just done. It was horrible. The end became a torture. I was so glad to be done with this book. I'm surprised I don't give it a lower star.
I know this is supposed to be satire, but I don't know what was happening back in the 1700s enough to get the references. I can't really enjoy the satire.
One thing, I will never read this book again. If anyone asks. If you know European history and love Satire, then you might enjoy this book. All others should read the first two parts and put the book down.
The last two parts would be a good torture devise for someone you don't like. Just make them listen to it.
medium-paced
I honestly couldn't care less.
Read parts 3 and 4 in March, 2020
Read parts 1 and 2 around 2014
Read parts 3 and 4 in March, 2020
Read parts 1 and 2 around 2014
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2988987.html
I first read this at about the age of eight or nine; I’m pretty sure it was the Cassell edition with illustrations by Thomas Morten, because a) the scatological bits have been bowdlerised out and b) I remember my grandfather, in what may well have been the last conversation I ever had with him, teasing me for not knowing Gulliver’s first name; it does not appear in the Cassell edition, which omits the two introductory letters where he is introduced as Lemuel Gulliver.
In case you don’t know, the story is of a normal English naval surgeon who finds himself on four adventures: first, he goes to a country where everyone is very small; then he goes to a country where everyone is very big; then he goes to a country where everyone is a mad scientist (or at least pursuing peculiar paths of knowledge); and finally he goes to a country where horses are intelligent and humans are primitive brutes. They deserve separate treatment, though they are coherent parts of a whole. The illustrations below are Morten’s from the Cassell edition; the text is from the Penguin edition with footnotes by Robert DeMaria.
Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput
Lilliput is the best known of the four books - perhaps it is the easiest to grasp and to film. In 1981 Barry Letts did an adaptation which centred much more around Lady Flimnap than Gulliver; the lead was played by Elisabeth Sladen, formerly (and future) Sarah Jane Smith.
This is the most directly satirical of the four parts, the story of Lilliput and its eternal rival Blefuscu, clearly modelled on England and France, divided also by the debate over which end of the egg to break first, and in the case of Lilliput riven by internal court intrigue into which Gulliver becomes a deeply disturbing factor. Turning the telescope around is an old satirist’s trick, and reducing the squabbles of European politicians and churchmen to a twelfth of their usual size is a good way of putting things in perspective.
This is the only one of the four books where Gulliver is forced to leave by the inhabitants (or rather to avoid their intention to kill or maim him). The precipitating moment is when he puts out a fire in the Queen’s apartments by urinating on it. (This is one of the bits that was left out of the Cassell edition.)
Part II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag
If Lilliput is the most satirical of the four parts of the story, Brobdingnag is the most philosophical. (Also, ironically, the shortest.) The two particularly memorable aspects of the story are, first, the body horror of everything being twelve times its normal size, including lice, flies, rats, monkeys and indeed dwarves; and second, a long conversation about political theory between Gulliver and the King of Brobdingnag, in which Gulliver leads off with a naïvely idealistic description of the British constitution, and the King gently destroys every single point in a series of hypothetical questions. It is the closest we get to sæva Indignatio (though there are several other near encounters).
Incidentally, I surely can’t be alone in detecting an echo of “dashing out the Brains of a poor harmless Creature found by chance in his Field“ in “To a Mouse”.
Part III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Japan
The third section has perhaps weathered the test of time least well of the four - though ironically it is the most sfnal, in that the first half is very much about the application of science and the second half then takes us into accessing the past (by summoning ghosts, and talking to immortals). Swift’s rejection of scientific research as a worthwhile activity, and of science as a useful tool for statecraft, is pretty startling for the modern reader. We make a mistake if we read the floating island of Laputa as a scientific endeavour; it’s essentially a magical mechanism enabling the plot to happen, and the scientists above and below are deranged idealists. Of the three books, this is the one where Gulliver travels the most, and the result is a somewhat disjointed narrative.
Part IV: A Voyage to the Land of the Houyhnhnms
The fourth and final part is by far the most misanthropic story of the book. The Houyhnhnms are intelligent horses, philosopher kings who do not seem to know crime or even sin. The Yahoos (who they exploit) are degenerate humans with disgusting personal hygiene and morals. Again Gulliver attempts to explain his own society to his hosts, but now he emphasises the negatives rather than the positives. He is appalled to find himself closer physically to the Yahoos, and aspires to be one of the Houyhnhnms. (This of course makes him unbearable to his family, and vice versa, when he eventually does get home.) Again, the reversal of roles is an old satirist’s trick; it’s maybe a little less successful here because we modern readers can’t help but notice the Houyhnhnms’ exploitation of the Yahoos, and also wonder exactly how horses can develop even a modest level of technology without opposable digits. But that’s not the point; to invoke Burns again, the point is “To see oursels as ithers see us”, and the disgusting behaviour of the Yahoos should be read as disturbingly close to our own societies.
Alas, there is precisely no evidence that Swift was inspired to write about Gulliver’s capture in Lilliput by the anthropomorphic profile of Cave Hill as it overlooks Belfast. Shame; it would have been nice if it were true.
I first read this at about the age of eight or nine; I’m pretty sure it was the Cassell edition with illustrations by Thomas Morten, because a) the scatological bits have been bowdlerised out and b) I remember my grandfather, in what may well have been the last conversation I ever had with him, teasing me for not knowing Gulliver’s first name; it does not appear in the Cassell edition, which omits the two introductory letters where he is introduced as Lemuel Gulliver.
In case you don’t know, the story is of a normal English naval surgeon who finds himself on four adventures: first, he goes to a country where everyone is very small; then he goes to a country where everyone is very big; then he goes to a country where everyone is a mad scientist (or at least pursuing peculiar paths of knowledge); and finally he goes to a country where horses are intelligent and humans are primitive brutes. They deserve separate treatment, though they are coherent parts of a whole. The illustrations below are Morten’s from the Cassell edition; the text is from the Penguin edition with footnotes by Robert DeMaria.
Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput
Lilliput is the best known of the four books - perhaps it is the easiest to grasp and to film. In 1981 Barry Letts did an adaptation which centred much more around Lady Flimnap than Gulliver; the lead was played by Elisabeth Sladen, formerly (and future) Sarah Jane Smith.
This is the most directly satirical of the four parts, the story of Lilliput and its eternal rival Blefuscu, clearly modelled on England and France, divided also by the debate over which end of the egg to break first, and in the case of Lilliput riven by internal court intrigue into which Gulliver becomes a deeply disturbing factor. Turning the telescope around is an old satirist’s trick, and reducing the squabbles of European politicians and churchmen to a twelfth of their usual size is a good way of putting things in perspective.
This is the only one of the four books where Gulliver is forced to leave by the inhabitants (or rather to avoid their intention to kill or maim him). The precipitating moment is when he puts out a fire in the Queen’s apartments by urinating on it. (This is one of the bits that was left out of the Cassell edition.)
Part II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag
If Lilliput is the most satirical of the four parts of the story, Brobdingnag is the most philosophical. (Also, ironically, the shortest.) The two particularly memorable aspects of the story are, first, the body horror of everything being twelve times its normal size, including lice, flies, rats, monkeys and indeed dwarves; and second, a long conversation about political theory between Gulliver and the King of Brobdingnag, in which Gulliver leads off with a naïvely idealistic description of the British constitution, and the King gently destroys every single point in a series of hypothetical questions. It is the closest we get to sæva Indignatio (though there are several other near encounters).
Incidentally, I surely can’t be alone in detecting an echo of “dashing out the Brains of a poor harmless Creature found by chance in his Field“ in “To a Mouse”.
Part III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Japan
The third section has perhaps weathered the test of time least well of the four - though ironically it is the most sfnal, in that the first half is very much about the application of science and the second half then takes us into accessing the past (by summoning ghosts, and talking to immortals). Swift’s rejection of scientific research as a worthwhile activity, and of science as a useful tool for statecraft, is pretty startling for the modern reader. We make a mistake if we read the floating island of Laputa as a scientific endeavour; it’s essentially a magical mechanism enabling the plot to happen, and the scientists above and below are deranged idealists. Of the three books, this is the one where Gulliver travels the most, and the result is a somewhat disjointed narrative.
Part IV: A Voyage to the Land of the Houyhnhnms
The fourth and final part is by far the most misanthropic story of the book. The Houyhnhnms are intelligent horses, philosopher kings who do not seem to know crime or even sin. The Yahoos (who they exploit) are degenerate humans with disgusting personal hygiene and morals. Again Gulliver attempts to explain his own society to his hosts, but now he emphasises the negatives rather than the positives. He is appalled to find himself closer physically to the Yahoos, and aspires to be one of the Houyhnhnms. (This of course makes him unbearable to his family, and vice versa, when he eventually does get home.) Again, the reversal of roles is an old satirist’s trick; it’s maybe a little less successful here because we modern readers can’t help but notice the Houyhnhnms’ exploitation of the Yahoos, and also wonder exactly how horses can develop even a modest level of technology without opposable digits. But that’s not the point; to invoke Burns again, the point is “To see oursels as ithers see us”, and the disgusting behaviour of the Yahoos should be read as disturbingly close to our own societies.
Alas, there is precisely no evidence that Swift was inspired to write about Gulliver’s capture in Lilliput by the anthropomorphic profile of Cave Hill as it overlooks Belfast. Shame; it would have been nice if it were true.
