Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels (1726, amended 1735) is a work of fiction by Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the "travellers' tales" literary sub-genre. Swift's masterpiece, it is his most celebrated work and one of the indisputable classics of the English language.

Composition and History

It is uncertain exactly when Swift started writing Gulliver's Travels but some sources suggest as early as 1713 when Swift, Gay, Pope, Arbuthnott and others formed The Scriblerus Club, with the aim of satirising then-popular literary genres. Swift, runs the theory, was charged with writing the memoirs of the club's imaginary author, Martinus Scriblerus. It is known from Swift's correspondence that the composition proper began in 1720 with the mirror-themed parts I and II written first, Part IV next in 1723 and Part III written in 1724, but amendments were made even while Swift was writing The Drapier's Letters. By 1725 the book was completed and Swift travelled to London to have it published.

Related Topics:
1713 - Scriblerus Club - 1720 - 1723 - 1724 - The Drapier's Letters - 1725

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Motte

The book was a transparently anti-Whig satire and it is likely that Swift had the manuscript recopied so his handwriting could not be used as evidence if a prosecution should arise (as had happened in the case of some of his Irish pamphlets) and the manuscript was secretly delivered to the publisher Benjamin Motte. Motte, fearing prosecution and recognising a bestseller when he had one, simply cut or altered the worst offending passages, such as the descriptions of the court contests in Lilliput or the rebellion of Lindalino, and published it anyway. The book was an instant sensation and sold out its first run in less than a month and continued to be published for a long while afterwards.

Related Topics:
Whig - Irish - Pamphlet - Benjamin Motte - Lindalino

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Faulkner

In 1735 an Irish publisher, George Faulkner, printed a complete set of Swift's works to date. It is widely believed that these editions were published with Swift's co-operation and approval and the edition of GT printed included the new Letter referred to above as well as correcting and removing most of Motte's alterations and misprints. Generally, this is regarded as the Editio Princeps of GT with one small exception.

Related Topics:
1735 - George Faulkner

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"Lindalino"

The short (three-paragraph) story in Part III telling of the rebellion of the surface city of Lindalino against the flying island of Laputa was an obvious allegory to the affair of The Drapier's Letters, of which Swift was (justifiably) proud. Lindalino was Dublin (Lin-da-lin = Double-lin = Dublin) and the impositions of Laputa represented the British imposition of Wood's poor-quality currency. As an Irish publisher, Faulkner had felt unable to include the passage even 10 years after the events allegorised, so he omitted it. It wasn't until 1899 that the passage was finally included in a new edition of the Collected Works. Modern editions derive from the Faulkner edition with the inclusion of this 1899 addendum.

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