Jonathan Swift

Jonathan swift

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS

Carolina Gilardi, Nicole Trentuno, Ludovica Babusci, Nour Elbardisy

AUTHOR

• Dublin 1667
• in 1688 he became secretary to Sir William Temple
• his best satires were: The Battle of the Books, A Tale of a Tube
• he was an anglican priest
• he published "Gulliver's Travels" in 1726
• died in 1745

• controversial, misanthrope
• he defined himself as a hater of men
• he wrote parodies, combining irony with his simple style

EXTRACTS

"Every man desires to live long, but no man whishes to be old"

Gulliver's travels-Jonathan Swift

"May you live every day of your life"

-Jonathan Swift

UTOPIAN NOVEL

GULLIEVER'S TRAVELS

• The utopian novel is a style of novel that takes place in an idealized world
• They are often set in a perfect society or ideal state, with some conflicts
• These ideals world were created to escape from the reality of that period and to achieve perfection and balance
• The term "utopia" was invented by english philosopher Sir Thomas More, recalling ancient greek words meaning "good place" and "no place"

• originally named as "Travels into several remote nations of the World" (1721-25)
• divided in 4 settings like his 4 travels;
• 1. Land of Lilliput;
• 2. Land of Brobdingnag;
• 3. The island of Laputa;
• 4. Land of Houyhnhnms;
• he has the opportunity to discuss everything he define as wrong

PLOT

• This book talks about the 4 travels that Gulliver does, in differents countries:

1. In the first part he meets tiny humans 2. In the second he faces challenges and dangers3. Then he find people imprisoned in their abstract knowledge4. Finally he meets the Yahoos (creatures with human mentality) and manage to confront them

CHARACTERS

• The main character is Gulliver
• he's well educated and sensible
• he supports his own culture but he learns a lot with his travels
• in the fourth travel Gulliver's trasformation becomes complete and he can't take part anymore to European society
• Gulliver is always displayed

SOUrCES & STYLE

• he looked to the extensive literature of travel, imaginary and real (french writers)
• TRAVELLER: they discovered happy societies where men were simple and based their lives on natural instincts
• in Gulliver's travels people live in highly organised sicieties and governed by institutions
• opposition between rationality and animality
• there are recognisable elements of political allegory (European men)

• Gulliver tells his story in the first person, in a prose style named "matter-of-fact" which is free of literaly colouring, but with details like scientific instruments.

LEVELS OF INTERPRETATION

• This book can be read on different levels:

1. tale for children;2. political allegory; 3. parody of voyage literature; 4. masterpiece of misanthropy; 5. reflection on the aberrations of human reason;

• The most common interpretation is the satiric purpose of the book, criticising political, social and religious conflicts;
• Many people claim that Swift was mentally unbalanced, so that the novel gave the point of view of people with mental disorders;

thanks FOR THE VISION