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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Gulliver's Travels
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(1726)
Jonathan *Swift's most famous satire takes the form of a narrative by a ship's surgeon, Lemuel Gulliver, under whose name it first appeared with the title Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. Each of his four voyages is calculated to provide a differing satirical perspective on ourselves.
In Lilliput, where the people are six inches high, it is Gulliver who peers down and marvels at their petty ways. In Brobdingnag, where the people are giants, the position is reversed; Gulliver tells the king about the manners and institutions of Europe, and is surprised at his reaction that we sound like 'little odious Vermin'.
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The flying island of Laputa is inhabited by philosophers and scientists, who make a predictable mess of things. By contrast in the land of the Houyhnhnms (a very passable attempt by Swift to spell the neighing of a horse) all the inhabitants are animals; but the ruling Houyhnhnms are rational and admirable horses, whereas the Yahoos (beasts in human shape) are brutal and oafish.
The vividness of Swift's imagination has caused his savage satire to be enjoyed also as a fantasy for children, keeping Gulliver's adventures fresh for each new generation.
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