Schedule and Background

[David]

Here is the reading schedule for Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

Jul 22 - 28	Letter… - Part 1, Ch. 4
Jul 29 - Aug 4	Part 1, Chapter 5 - 8	
Aug 5 - 11	Part 2, Chapters 1 - 4	
Aug 12 - 18	Part 2 Chapters 5 - 8
Aug 19 - 25	Part 3 Chapters 1 - 5
Aug 26 - Sep 1	Part 3, Chapters 6 - 11
Sep 2 - 8	Part 4, Chapters 1 - 6
Sep 9 - 15	Part 4, Chapters 7 - 12, book as a whole

Please use this topic for discussions on various editions and background information.

This work was published in 1726 and is a genre spanning Novel, Satire, Children's literature, Science Fiction, Parable, Fantasy Fiction, and Adventure fiction. For me to understand this book beyond the level of children's literature, I am going to rely on you and any supplemental material I can find, just as I did for Tristram Shandy. While remaining mindful of the text itself, please feel free to do a little digging outside the text and let us know how we can connect the dots and understand this book as Swift's contemporaries did.

[David]

A Letter from Capt. Gulliver to His Cousin Sympson: This letter and the other material before the table of contents was added to Gulliver’s Travels for the 1735 Dublin edition of Swift’s Complete Works.

I noticed some editions do not contain this letter. This letter, along with the rest of the text may be found here:

Gulliver's Travels/A Letter from Captain Gulliver to His Cousin Sympson
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Gulliv...

[Hollyinnnv]

David: This work was published in 1726 and is a genre spanning Novel, Satire, Children's literature, Science Fiction, Parable, Fantasy Fiction, and Adventure fiction.

Me: You can also find elements of Utopia/Dystopia, Post (?)-Colonialism, Political Parody, Environmentalism and Humor.

[David]

Hollyinnnv,

You gave me an idea. Maybe members would like to sign up for the genre or genres of their choice and provide a special comment from that perspective for each week's discussion?

1. Novel
2. Satire & Political Parody - since most of the satire is political in nature.
3. Children's literature - This might be harder than you think.
4. Science Fiction - The Asimov annotated edition will be helpful here.
5. Parable
6. Fantasy/Adventure Fiction
7. Utopia/Dystopia
8. Post (?)-Colonialism
9. Environmentalism
10. Humor - help us get the more obscure jokes.

[Aiden]

Not sure what 1. Novel would include, but I’m studying literature in an effort to write better fiction (short stories, novel, novella). I did a surface read already with the Barnes & Nobles Classics edition and I’m doing a close read along with the discussion.

The B&N is a good edition with decent endnotes sufficient for the average reader. I’m doing my closer read with the Oxford World Classics edition (which has more detailed explanatory notes) in tandem with Harold Bloom’s Interpretations. I’ll provide any useful commentary that I can.

[Hollyinnnv]

Political satire is close to my dissertation topic, so I’d love to talk about that!

[Hollyinnnv]

Yeah GT is not a novel. Writers were experimenting with longer formats at this time. Defoe (maybe) wrote Crusoe in 1719, which is considered the “first” novel by some. But GT is structurally very different than Crusoe. Maybe we can call it long fiction.

[Aiden]

Hollyinnnv wrote: "Yeah GT is not a novel. Writers were experimenting with longer formats at this time. Defoe (maybe) wrote Crusoe in 1719, which is considered the “first” novel by some. But GT is structurally very d..."

I wasn’t so much concerned with form definition as what David meant by the category. If it’s just general literature, I think I can do that, though I’m sure there are some more qualified.

I agree that GT is different than what we currently call “the novel.” Although some permutations of the post-modern novel still use the technique of fiction emulating other genres, as Swift emulated travel literature of his day. Also, now I’m curious, what’s your dissertation topic?

[Hollyinnnv]

Hi Aiden, I study political poetry, 1660 (Restoration) through 1714 end of Queen Anne’s reign). Holly

[Donnally]

GT is more of a novel than you might think. It is certainly not four disconnected episodes. There is an overarching theme that is worked out during the course of the work, and IMO there is a development in Gulliver himself and his view of his fellow creatures.

[Hollyinnnv]

Donnally wrote: "GT is more of a novel than you might think. It is certainly not four disconnected episodes. There is an overarching theme that is worked out during the course of the work, and IMO there is a develo..."

What is the overarching theme? How does Gulliver and his view of fellow creatures develop? I'm curious what you mean by that? Thanks Donnally :)

[David]

Hollyinnnv wrote: "What is the overarching theme? How does Gulliver and his view of fellow creatures develop?"

No spoiler's please.

But but one can wonder if Gulliver's attitudes towards his various hosts and institutions change as the story progresses. It is also a journey, so lets see to what degree it is a symbolic one and what, if anything Gulliver may discover in himself and his world.

It is also said the name Gulliver may be derived from gullible; If there is an association there, let us see if Gulliver becomes more or less gullible.

[Donnally]

I would say the overarching theme is the search for a perfect social structure, and the tension that always exists between the needs of the individual and the needs of society.

Gulliver develops as a result of always being an outsider. He never fits into any of the societies he visits, and he ends by even being an outsider in England.

Not going further out of respect for the request of no spoilers.

[Hollyinnnv]

David: Aah-No spoilers-good reminder.

Donnally: Maybe it will be easier to talk about this once we get to the end. No doubt I will enjoy your comments during the discussion.

[Chris]

This will be a first time read for me. Eager to hear the commentary. Need to get started before I get too far behind, which usually happens but not until at least the 2nd or third week. HA!

[Kerstin]

David wrote: "It is also said the name Gulliver may be derived from gullible; If there is an association there, let us see if Gulliver becomes more or less gullible."

Yes. In my edition (Ignatius Critical Editions) the following footnote explains:

Lemuel Gulliver: "Lemuel" means "beloved of God", and "Gulliver" (pronounced "Gullivere" in the eighteenth century) means "to trick (gull) by means of the truth (vere)".

[Lily]

I've a momentary enchantment with (bits of) the historic period from the late 1600's thru the establishment of the United States (~1776-1789) and the French Revolution (1789-1799). Those culminating events actually followed the life of our writer here, Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). But much that eventually led there was happening during his lifetime.

One small literary endeavor caught my eye today:

"The Spectator was a daily publication founded by Joseph Addison and Richard Steele in England, lasting from 1711 to 1712. Each 'paper', or 'number' was approximately 2,500 words ... The paper was revived without the involvement of Steele in 1714, appearing thrice weekly for six months...

"In Number 10, Mr. Spectator states that The Spectator will aim 'to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality'. The journal reached an audience of thousands of people every day, because 'the Spectators was something that every middle-class household with aspirations to looking like its members took literature seriously would want to have.' He hopes it will be said he has 'brought philosophy out of closets and libraries, schools, and colleges, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea-tables and coffee–houses'. Women specifically were also a target audience for The Spectator, because one of the aims of the periodical was to increase the number of women who were 'of a more elevated life and conversation.' Steele states in The Spectator, No. 10, 'But there are none to whom this paper will be more useful than to the female world.' He recommends that readers of the paper consider it 'as a part of the tea-equipage' and set aside time to read it each morning. The Spectator sought to provide readers with topics for well-reasoned discussion, and to equip them to carry on conversations and engage in social interactions in a polite manner. In keeping with the values of Enlightenment philosophies of their time, the authors of The Spectator promoted family, marriage, and courtesy."
From the Wiki entry for The Spectator.

[Lily]

Here is a rough list of some of the Enlightenment figures of the period, arbitrarily listed in order of the date of their death:

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) Father of empiricism
René Descartes (1596-1650)
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) Leviathan, social contract
John Locke (1632-1704)
Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) Dictionary
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716)
Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
Charles Louis De Secondat (1689-1755) Separation of powers
Claude Adrien Helvétius (1715-1771) On Mind
François Quesnay (1694-1774)
David Hume (1711-1776)
Voltaire (1694 - 1778)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1780) Rights of Man
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot (1727-1781)
Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1717-1783)
Denis Diderot (1713-1784)
Baron d'Holbach (1723-1789)
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794)
Marquis DeCondorcet (1743-1794)
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
James Madison (1751-1836)

[Lily]

A few literary names, mostly English, sort of surrounding Swift:

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
John Donne (1572-1631)
Ben Johnson (1572-1637)
Sir William Davenant (1606-1668)
Moliere (1622-1673)
Thomas Killigrew (1612-1683)
John Bunyan (1628-1688)
John Milton (1608-1674)
John Dryden (1631-1700)
Samuel Pepys (1633-1703)
Daniel Defoe (1669-1731)
William Congreve (1670-1729)
Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
William Hogarth (1697-1764)
Laurence Sterne (1713-1768)
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

[David]

Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809)

[Lily]

David wrote: "Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809)"


François Rabelais (~1490 - <1553) - Gargantua and Pantagruel

William Dampier (1652 - 1715) - explorer, travel writer ( A New Voyage Round the World )

Sir Walter Scott (1771 - 1832)

[David]

Kathy wrote: "Does anyone know whether Swift might have influenced Lewis Carroll? I was reminded of Alice in the passages where Gulliver is describing how gross people look up close and "larger-..."

Kathy, the top of my google search indicates you are not the only one thinking of this connection. I found this: https://www.worldcat.org/title/swift-...

Swift and Carroll: A Psychoanalytic Study of Two Lives
Author: Phyllis Greenacre

Summary:
This is a psychological study of two men--apparently very different, in many respects nearly opposites. Only Dr. Greenacre's deep-psychological investigation reveals the intrinsic likeness which exists in all opposites. With care and thoroughness, she examines the lives and characters of the two authors and relates them to the themes and characters of their writings which have become English classics. Gulliver and Alice are immortal, and Dr. Greenacre also succeeds in offering an explanation of their universal appeal. Based on many years of real experience fathoming the unconscious, Dr. Greenacre applies the pathographic method with tenderness, thoroughness, caution, and a willingness to state possibility rather than to assert downright certainty. The fact that both Swift and Carroll were particularly uncommunicative and reticent regarding their personal lives makes this study even more fascinating, because Dr. Greenacre provides the key which inevitably opens a broad view of the inner workings of the writers' minds.--From publisher description.

[Lily]

From The Prints of Luis Quintanilla -- (About Quintanilla: http://www.lqart.org/index.html#about...)

I'll place this in spoiler html, since these illustrations do span most if not the entire panorama of Gulliver's Travels. (view spoiler)[http://www.lqart.org/illustfold/gulli... (hide spoiler)] "In 1947 a new edition of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels appeared. It was published by Crown Publishers and included an introduction by Jacques Barzun. It had twenty four original prints and one hundred and sixty drawings..."

( Jacques Barzun's From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present is one of my current dip-into for a few minutes from time-to-time books that stays on one of my within reach book piles. Pleasant dipping.)

[Lily]

Since I seem to have tripped into the theme of high wire antics, I'll pull here one of Quintanilla's drawings:



The Candidates for great Employments, and High Favour, at Court

[Lily]

But perhaps closer to the text:



A Person of Quality

[Lily]

I wonder if anyone has ever calculated the economic value Swift contributed to the illustrator's profession alone.... (Sort of like Dante.)

[Lily]

I haven't figured out how to access/use pinterest readily, but if you can access it, here is a collection of illustrations by Arthur Rackman, one of, it not the, earliest illustrators of Gulliver's Travels:

https://www.pinterest.com/7marilyn4/a...

(This, too, draws from various portions of the book.)

[Kathy]

Interesting. The illustrator of my copy is C. E. Brock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._E._B...
His illustrations are dated 1894 and appear very much like the black and white examples on the Wikipedia page.

[Kathy]

David wrote: "Kathy wrote: "Does anyone know whether Swift might have influenced Lewis Carroll? I was reminded of Alice in the passages where Gulliver is describing how gross people look up close and "larger-......"

Thanks, David. Interesting note there that both men were also "reticent regarding their personal lives." Not sure what to make of that, but both were theologians, which I hadn't thought about before.

[Lily]

Parts of the "first edition" of Gulliver's Travels can be seen at this British library page:

https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/fi...

Go here on the British Library Site, search for Gulliver's Travels, and get lost. Don't hesitate to select "I want this". Often it will take your to another web page leading to fun illustrations and articles.
https://www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-ce...

[David]

With the question posed in another thread regarding more modern satirists, I thought I would redirect that conversation to the background by creating general post about satire here. For instance I was not aware there were three formal classifications of satire:

Different Classifications of Satire

Within the general definition of satire, there are three main classifications of different types of satire. The first two of these are named after ancient Roman satirists—Horace (first century BCE) and Juvenal (late first century BCE to early second century AD)—while the third is named after the ancient Greek parodist Menippus (third century BCE).

Horatian: Horace playfully mocked the societal norms of his day, and the satire named after him is clever, yet gentle. Rather than attacking evils, Horatian satire ridicules universal human folly so that the reader might identify with what is being critiqued and laugh at him/herself as well as at society.
Juvenalian: Unlike Horace, Juvenal attacked public officials and governmental organizations through his satires. He regarded their opinions not just as wrong, but instead as evil. Juvenalian satire thus is more contemptuous and abrasive, and uses strong irony and sarcasm. Polarized political satire is often of this nature, and aims to provoke change. Juvenalian satire is not often as humorous.
Menippean: Menippean satire criticizes mental attitudes rather than societal norms or specific individuals. This type of satire often ridicules single-minded people, such as bigots, misers, braggarts, and so on.
http://www.literarydevices.com/satire/

Does anyone want to take a shot at giving examples of each from Gulliver's Travels?

[Kathy]

Thanks, Lily! So, yes, the maps I'm referring to are from the original text.

[David]

Sunday, Aug. 23, 2020 - Washington Post