Product Description

'Thus, gentle Reader, I have given thee a faithful History of my Travels for Sixteen Years, and above Seven Months; wherein I have not been so studious of Ornament as of Truth.' In these words Gulliver represents himself as a reliable reporter of the fantastic adventures he has just set down; but how far can we rely on a narrator whose identity is elusive and whoses inventiveness is self-evident? Gulliver's Travels purports to be a travel book, and describes Gulliver's encounters with the inhabitants of four extraordinary places: Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, and the country of the Houyhnhnms. A consummately skilful blend of fantasy and realism makes Gulliver's Travels by turns hilarious, frightening, and profound. Swift plays tricks on us, and delivers one of the world's most disturbing satires of the human condition. This new edition includes the changing frontispiece portraits of Gulliver that appeared in successive early editions.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26201 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 422 pages

Customer Reviews

Timeless Speculative Fiction
Sweepingly entertaining & popular from the year it was published until this day, among adults as well as (duly expurgated) with children. Whether Swift "intended" to create one of the earliest English novels; a pioneering work of science-fiction or fantasy; a travel narrative; or, as often put forward, a bittersour satire of British politics - he achieved it all. This insolent example of what we mean when we say "work of genius" was before its time in so immediate a way that many never thought twice about it. Did it close the Baroque century, or introduce the Age of Enlightenment - who can tell? More important is the vast imaginative freedom conquered for humanity with those impossible tales of High-Heel Lilliputians, lascivious Brobdingnag ladies & Baconian scientism reduced to parody. Not to forget the chilling Houyhnhnms & their wretchedly humanoid underlings, the Yahoos.

A treasure of civilization, which may still read like science-fiction in the 22nd Century.