Gulliver's Travels (The Penguin English Library) - Softcover

Swift, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141198982 ISBN 13: 9780141198989

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2012

Synopsis

The Penguin English Library Edition of Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

'Fifteen hundred of the Emperor's largest horses, each about four inches and an half high, were employed to draw me towards the Metropolis, which, as I said, was half a Mile distant'

A savage and hilarious satire, Gulliver's Travels sees Lemuel Gulliver shipwrecked and adrift, subject to bizarre and unnerving encounters with, among others, quarrelling Lilliputians, philosophizing horses and the brutish Yahoo tribe, that change his view of humanity - and himself - for ever. Swift's classic of 1726 portrays mankind in a distorted hall of mirrors as a diminished, magnified and finally bestial species, presenting us with a comical yet uncompromising reflection of ourselves.

The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.

About this title

Review:

"Gulliver's Travels is a timeless work, but Allan Ingram's edition reminds us that it's a timely one, too. His introduction, notes, and appendices put the eighteenth century's greatest satire in a wide variety of contexts--biographical, historical, political, scientific, and literary--giving us an ideal edition for classroom use. No edition does a better job of explaining Swift's masterpiece as a product of its age."--Jack Lynch, Rutgers University

"This new edition of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels provides both first-time and return readers with a well-constructed framework within which to place a familiar work. Allan Ingram's engaging introduction deftly combines a summary of contemporary controversies over politics, religion, learning, science, and Ireland, with a summary of Swift's life and a history of the composition, publication, and critical reception of the Travels. The footnotes to the text anticipate the kinds of knowledge a twenty-first-century reader might lack: the outmoded usage of a single word or the identity of an individual, as well as references to broader issues and ideas. Ingram observes that Swift 'asks the kinds of questions of his readers to which we have few answers.' His edition will enable readers to carry on the debate about those questions."--Melinda Alliker Rabb, Brown University

From the Publisher:

Lemuel Gulliver, ship's surgeon and castaway, has awaken in Lilliput, where the size of the tiny inhabitants makes their concerns and quarrels seem ridiculous. A second journey takes him to the kingdom of giants, where again his size gives him new adrift by pirates, Gulliver's final voyage brings him to the land of the Houyhnhms, horses with reason, who share their domain with the brutish Yahoos. He returns to England a changed man.

Swift's corrosive satire embraces all aspects of humanity. It is witty when dealing with foibles and frailty, bitterly when facing pride and stupidity, but compassionate and unsentimental when focused upon suffering.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0141198982
• ISBN 13: 9780141198989
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352