Gulliver's Travels   by Jonathan Swift

October 2004     Borrowed from Ulla Moltrecht, a "Dresser" in the theater.

As most people, I had heard of Lilliput, and had a vague idea about little people, and what a marvel they found an English man to be. I didn't know about the nearby nation they were at war with though, or the political and social comments/comparisons that were made in this tale, and in the other journeys that Gulliver went on.

This is not actually a political book though; it is firstly a book of fantasy, and catchy, interesting, amusing tales. Western culture is compared to the places he travels only as a secondary thing. And then, it seems to be less of an outright criticism, as it is an eye-opener. It states that there are other ways of seeing things, and of a society dealing with things. It seems to me, that the statements made were the beginnings of the writing style which I most enjoy; namely, that which uses fiction, (SF or Fantasy,) to make points about our world. This book would seem to be an early version of that, before anyone had the boldness to talk of other life forms, or to delve in other ways into extreme fantasy.

In careful reflection though, I find that this book goes rather far in that direction; before journeys between the stars were imagined, wouldn't there be tales of the far lands, over endless seas? Where the people are many times smaller or larger, or where there are floating islands, or sciences without logic, or the opportunity to converse with the dead. This was all no doubt the leading edge of fantasy at the time, and people would have been just as swept up into the romance and excitement of it, as the contemporaries are with space voyage, and super technology.

If there are any English Students out there reading this, I'd suggest a comparison essay on this book and some contemporary SF. Perhaps the Martian Chronicles?

There is only one other thing I'd like to mention: at one of the places the author travels to, there are some immortal humans, that live forever. And the point made is that we think of immortality as perpetual Youth. Why is that? This chapter describes it as perpetual age: where they grow old, pained, and senile, and then just don't die, but remain that way forever, dependant on the state to take care of them. It's an interesting twist to an old idea.

The only complaint I could have, is that the writing style is outdated, which made the presentation of ideas was not so engaging. Otherwise, this was fine.