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anamaria23 's review for:
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift
Although I recognize the merits of this book and know Jonathan Swift was among the first to experiment with this literary genre, it is my firm belief that any piece of writing should be judged according to what it is at core and not what it wants or claims to be. In other words, I don't think the social context of the 18th century should be used as an excuse so as to pardon a bad book. Of course, the genre had not been approached before. I can understand that. It was an experiment and the purpose of an experiment is to try and see what works and what doesn't. But it still bugs me that several centuries prior to Jonathan Swift's novel there had been stories and epic poems and plays so much better than this piece of writing. Things written by people who were as inexperienced as Jonathan Swift and who still managed to do a better job than this guy. People who pointed flaws out with elegance and grace.
First of all, the book was irritatingly repetitive. There are four books within Gulliver's Travels and each particular journey is nothing but a recycled interpretation of the previous one. They all follow the same pattern: Gulliver's thirst for adventure urges him to leave his loving wife and kids. Something terrible happens (a shipwreck, a storm, pirates) and he gets castaway on a strange land. Each land features distinct people (individuals as small as a your thumb, giants, lunatics who live on a floating island and intelligent horses) but somehow, just somehow-the story is always the same: first he is looked at with suspicion, then the guys decide to give him a chance. He has a hard time learning their language at first but then his genius light bulb flickers and he manages to master it in three months. After he gets accustomed to their culture, there comes the omnipresent episode where he has a fruitful conversation with the leader of the country about how England is the worst country in the world. Everything gets put in balance and somehow, everything going on in the world is bad. Has he ever praised the merits of his country? I just can't remember.
And of course, everything reaches a climax when he gets to the Houyhnhnm country, the land of milk and honey. The pretentious prick just can't shut up about it. About how magnificent it is to live in an ice-cold world where love and affection are alien concepts and any decision whatsoever is based strictly on reason. About how offensive it is to be a human being. About the amount of damage they cause and how leading to their extinction might not be a bad idea after all (I'm talking about the horses' council here).
And let's be clear about one thing. This is Jonathan Swift speaking. Gulliver and Swift are one and the exact same person. This is no writer-unleashes-his-imagination thing, this is hands down Swift and his contemptuous attitude regarding anything. Why can't he just understand that war and politics and money and greed are all faces of same coin? That humankind does not always come benevolence. That sometimes, people are the worst versions of themselves. That they engage in wars for no reason other than proving their dominance and that they would trample over dead bodies for the sake of money.
Some parts of this micro-universe are indeed rotten, but that does not mean that a world devoid of joy and emotion is ever the way to go. I don't know about you, but I just don't like Jonathan Swift. Unlike other authors, his purpose is not a didactic one. He does not point flaws out and come up with solutions. He doesn't even punishes anyone. He just wants to fly out of this world and substantiate what I personally think is a terrible idea of perfection.
First of all, the book was irritatingly repetitive. There are four books within Gulliver's Travels and each particular journey is nothing but a recycled interpretation of the previous one. They all follow the same pattern: Gulliver's thirst for adventure urges him to leave his loving wife and kids. Something terrible happens (a shipwreck, a storm, pirates) and he gets castaway on a strange land. Each land features distinct people (individuals as small as a your thumb, giants, lunatics who live on a floating island and intelligent horses) but somehow, just somehow-the story is always the same: first he is looked at with suspicion, then the guys decide to give him a chance. He has a hard time learning their language at first but then his genius light bulb flickers and he manages to master it in three months. After he gets accustomed to their culture, there comes the omnipresent episode where he has a fruitful conversation with the leader of the country about how England is the worst country in the world. Everything gets put in balance and somehow, everything going on in the world is bad. Has he ever praised the merits of his country? I just can't remember.
And of course, everything reaches a climax when he gets to the Houyhnhnm country, the land of milk and honey. The pretentious prick just can't shut up about it. About how magnificent it is to live in an ice-cold world where love and affection are alien concepts and any decision whatsoever is based strictly on reason. About how offensive it is to be a human being. About the amount of damage they cause and how leading to their extinction might not be a bad idea after all (I'm talking about the horses' council here).
And let's be clear about one thing. This is Jonathan Swift speaking. Gulliver and Swift are one and the exact same person. This is no writer-unleashes-his-imagination thing, this is hands down Swift and his contemptuous attitude regarding anything. Why can't he just understand that war and politics and money and greed are all faces of same coin? That humankind does not always come benevolence. That sometimes, people are the worst versions of themselves. That they engage in wars for no reason other than proving their dominance and that they would trample over dead bodies for the sake of money.
Some parts of this micro-universe are indeed rotten, but that does not mean that a world devoid of joy and emotion is ever the way to go. I don't know about you, but I just don't like Jonathan Swift. Unlike other authors, his purpose is not a didactic one. He does not point flaws out and come up with solutions. He doesn't even punishes anyone. He just wants to fly out of this world and substantiate what I personally think is a terrible idea of perfection.