First written in 1726, and altered in 1735, Gulliver’s Travels is a classic of social satire. Using the format of the set of traveller’s tales, Jonathan Swift creates in each scenario a single abnormal condition, which allows him to examine the weaknesses of contemporary British society. The book was instantly popular, and Swift’s friend John Gay wrote to him that it was ‘universally read, from the cabinet council to the nursery’. Many nineteenth-century versions for children omitted the passage where Gulliver extinguishes the palace fire at Lilliput by urinating on it.
As a political and scientific thinker H G Wells looked forward to humanity being able to break away from prejudice and oppression in favour of embracing its potential; Brian Aldiss proposes that this is why Wells admired Swift (Wells read Gulliver’s Travels as a teenager). By means of satire, Swift creates a clear view of the absurdity of human social structures, and shows the connection between people and animals.
There are close links between The Island of Dr Moreau and the island of the Houyhnhnms in Gulliver’s Travels. There is a two-layer society, where like the beast folk, the Yahoos are part animal part human; and like Gulliver, Prendick leaves the island under a cloud of failure.
Dr Matthew Taunton reveals how The Time Machine reflects H G Wells’s fascination with class division, the effects of capitalism and the evolution of the human race.
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is crammed with animals: a grinning cat, a talking rabbit, an enormous caterpillar and countless others. Dr Martin Dubois explores anthropomorphism and nonsense in Lewis Carroll’s novel, revealing the literary traditions that underpin it – and those it inspired.
Jonathan Swift initially did his best to conceal the fact that he was the author of Gulliver's Travels. John Mullan explores how Swift constructed the work to operate as an elaborate game, parodying travel literature, pretending to be an autobiography and containing obviously false facts presented by a deeply unreliable narrator.
Gulliver’s Travels overview Gulliver’s Travels is a four-part prose travelogue, narrated by the ...
A scientific romance by H G Wells (1866-1946), published in 1895. Wells had part of a serial ...
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