Department of English Studies

S5 Module : Novel (parcours Linguistics) G 2, Pr. C. Karkaba

2020-2021

Week 1 :

I- Biographical elements:

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

He was born in Dublin (Ireland).

His family was poor. His father who was a clergyman died seven months before he was born.

He was brought up by his uncle. His uncle sent him to one of the best schools in Dublin.

His career as a student in Trinity College in Dublin is not said to be a brilliant one. He
isbelieved to have been sent down without a degree. While there are wild stories about his
undergraduate student’s period, he managed to obtain his B.A degree.

Swift received an M.A. from Oxford (1692) and a D.D. (Doctor of Divinity) from Dublin
University (1702).

It must be noted that his biographers acknowledge that there are contradictory stories about
his life at large.

He left Dublin in 1689 to join his mother who had settled in Leicester (England).

For ten years, Jonathan Swift had returned as a visitor to Ireland twice. He was Irish by birth
and education, but he considered his stay in Ireland as a sort of exile. But this feeling didn’t
prevent him from active contribution to Politics in Ireland.

He was ordained as a clergyman on one of his two visits to the land of his father who was
himself a religious man. But Swift had a reputation of blasphemy after the publication of his
A Tale of a Tub 1704), a book considered as irreligious.
In 1694 he was appointed as a priest in a church in Northern Ireland. While Ireland has been
catholic as an independent country, Northern Ireland was part of the UK (UK : England
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland). The Anglican Church as the religious authority in the
UK was protestant, not catholic. While the Catholic Church / catholicism is under the
authority of the Roman Catholic Church (Italy).

In 1700, Jonathan Swift was appointed as an honorary clergyman at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in
Dublin.

In 1713, he was appointed as Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin.

During all this period, Jonathan Swift never ceased to produce satirical writings adopting the
styles of different genres.

His stay in Dublin as Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral was his most active period as a writer. It
was during this period that Swift was confirmed as one of the greatest Anglo Irish writers and
political activists.

«It is largely in these years that he established himself as not only one of the most brilliantly
versatile and powerful satirists, but as a poet, journalist, and political commentator and
activist of extraordinary range, effectiveness and distinction. He is nevertheless chiefly
remembered for Gulliver’s Travels. » (Claude Rawson (ed.). Jonathan Swift : Gulliver’s
Travels. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2005, 2008. p.X).

Context : Source : Gulliver’s Travels: Context | SparkNotes

«Jonathan Swift, son of the English lawyer Jonathan Swift the elder, was born in Dublin,
Ireland, on November 30, 1667. He grew up there in the care of his uncle before attending
Trinity College at the age of fourteen, where he stayed for seven years, graduating in 1688. In
that year, he became the secretary of Sir William Temple, an English politician and member
of the Whig party. In 1694, he took religious orders in the Church of Ireland and then spent a
year as a country parson. He then spent further time in the service of Temple before returning
to Ireland to become the chaplain of the earl of Berkeley. Meanwhile, he had begun to write
satires on the political and religious corruption surrounding him, working on A Tale of a
Tub, which supports the position of the Anglican Church against its critics on the left and the
right, and The Battle of the Books, which argues for the supremacy of the classics against
modern thought and literature. He also wrote a number of political pamphlets in favor of the
Whig party. In 1709 he went to London to campaign for the Irish church but was unsuccessful.
After some conflicts with the Whig party, mostly because of Swift’s strong allegiance to the
church, he became a member of the more conservative Tory party in 1710.
Unfortunately for Swift, the Tory government fell out of power in 1714 and Swift, despite his
fame for his writings, fell out of favor. Swift, who had been hoping to be assigned a position
in the Church of England, instead returned to Dublin, where he became the dean of St.
Patrick’s. During his brief time in England, Swift had become friends with writers such as
Alexander Pope, and during a meeting of their literary club, the Martinus Scriblerus Club,
they decided to write satires of modern learning. The third voyage of Gulliver’s Travels is
assembled from the work Swift did during this time. However, the final work was not
completed until 1726, and the narrative of the third voyage was actually the last one
completed. After his return to Ireland, Swift became a staunch supporter of the Irish against
English attempts to weaken their economy and political power, writing pamphlets such as the
satirical A Modest Proposal, in which he suggests that the Irish problems of famine and
overpopulation could be easily solved by having the babies of poor Irish subjects sold as
delicacies to feed the rich.
Gulliver’s Travels was a controversial work when it was first published in 1726. In fact, it
was not until almost ten years after its first printing that the book appeared with the entire text
that Swift had originally intended it to have. Ever since, editors have excised many of the
passages, particularly the more caustic ones dealing with bodily functions. Even without those
passages, however, Gulliver’s Travels serves as a biting satire, and Swift ensures that it is
both humorous and critical, constantly attacking British and European society through its
descriptions of imaginary countries.
Late in life, Swift seemed to many observers to become even more caustic and bitter than he
had been. Three years before his death, he was declared unable to care for himself, and
guardians were appointed. Based on these facts and on a comparison between Swift’s fate and
that of his character Gulliver, some people have concluded that he gradually became insane
and that his insanity was a natural outgrowth of his indignation and outrage against
humankind. However, the truth seems to be that Swift was suddenly incapacitated by a
paralytic stroke late in life, and that prior to this incident his mental capacities were
unimpaired.
Gulliver’s Travels is about a specific set of political conflicts, but if it were nothing more than
that it would long ago have been forgotten. The staying power of the work comes from its
depiction of the human condition and its often despairing, but occasionally hopeful, sketch of
the possibilities for humanity to rein in its baser instincts. »

II- Summary, plot and structure :

Gulliver’s Travels is an adventure story featuring a hero, Lemuel Gulliver, who goes through
a series of voyages ending up on several unrecognized islands inhabited by animals and
humans of extraordinary sizes. These unusual creatures have different ways of behaving and
thinking. After each misadventure, the hero always manages to return to England, his home
country, but once he recovers from these extraordinary experiences he decides to depart on a
new voyage.

PART ONE: A Voyage to Liliput :

Caught in a destructive storm, Gulliver finds himself on an island called Liliput after a
shipwreck. As he awakes after the destruction of the ship he has been traveling on, he
discovers that he has been captured by the Liliputians, the inhabitants of the island. These
inhabitants are dwarves (dwarfs), humans of very small sizes.

The captive hero of this misadventure is well treated by the dwarf Liliputians who, in turn,
seek Gulliver’s help in their conflict with their sworn enemy living on a nearby island called
Blefucu. But Gulliver, who refuses to implement the Liliputians’ plan to enslave the
Blefuscudians, manages to escape and goes to the island of Blefuscu. On that island he uses a
large war ship and sails away until he encounters an English merchant ship which rescues him
and allows him to return to England.

PART TWO: A Voyage to Brobdingnag

During a new voyage, gulliver is asked to go and find water on an island in the company of a
few crew members. On discovering that the island is inhabited by humans of giant size, the
crew members flee leaving Gulliver behind. The abandoned her is captured by the giants
Gulliver is taken home by a farmer who treats him with care and kindness. Glumdalclith, the
farmer’s daughter is asked to take care of the captive.

The small-size Gulliver is taken by the giant farmer to be shown around across the coutryside
as an object of curiosity in the eyes of the onlookers. Gulliver is eventually sold to the queen
and he finds himself involved in discussions with the king about the customs and way of life
in England. In his accounts, Gulliver defends his home country as the king is shocked by the
selfishness of the people Gulliver describes.

One day, Gulliver who is kept captive in a portable wooden box (cage) is natched by an eagle
and he finds himself dropped into the sea. Fortunately, he is again rescued by a passing ship
which is heading back to England.

PART THREE: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and Japan

In this part, Gulliver is voyaging on a ship sailing towards the Middle East. As he arrives to
his destination, Gulliver is assigned the task of establishing trade with a number of
neighbouring islands. As the captain of a sloop (a boat with sails and only one mast), he sets
sails to travel from one island to another for trade, but his boat is attacked by pirates who
place him on a smaller boat, leaving him alone drifting in the midlle of the sea water.

Drifting away and struggling for survival, Swift’s hero comes across a Flying Island called
Laputa where he meets the islands inhabitants who are totally preoccupied with mathematics
and music. Besides, Laputa is controlled by astronomers who implement the laws of
magnetism so that the island can be moved to all directions up and down, forward and
backward. The controlled movements of the Laputa occur in relation to other islands such as
Balnibarbi which is situated below. After visiting other islands (Glubbdubdrib and Luggnag),
Gulliver travels to Japan where he encounters the emperror of that fareastern country. After
Japan, Gullivers travels to Europe where he visits Holland and then he returns to England.

PART FOUR: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms

During a voyage to Barbados, members of Gulliver’s merchant ship fall ill and die. Once in
Barbados, he recruits sailors to replace those who have died. But the new sailors on the ship
turn out to be pirates conspiring to orchestrate a mutiny of all the crew members againt the
captain of the ship. Gulliver, the captain, is consequently deposited and abandoned on a small
island. This island is the land of the Yahoos, a community of horrible and dreadful human
creatures. These hideous creatures start attacking Gulliver, climbing trees and defecating on
him until he is saved by the appearance of Houyhnhnm, a horse. Gulliver is taken to the
Houyhnhnm’s home where he is introduced to the wife, a grey mare and her children (a colt
and a foal. Gulliver comes to understand that the Yahoos who are very similar to humans are
kept away outside the house of the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver and the master Houyhnhnm, the
grey horse, indulge in conversations and discussions about the evolution and the behaviour of
the Yahoos as compared with the Houyhnhnms.

In the kingdom of the Houyhnhnms, it has been decided that Gulliver is a Yahoo who should
go back to the uncivilized way of living adopted by the community of the Yahoos. Gulliver
leaves the Houyhnhnms, builds a canoe and sails away to a nearby island where is discovered
by a Portuguese sailor. Gulliver is taken on board a Portuguese ship bound to Lisbon where he
is offered hospitality in the house of the captain of the ship. Now, Gulliver has a feeling of
repulsion at the idea that he is a Yahoo, and as he can’t stand living with civilized yahoos he
returns to England where he continues to be so repelled by the sight of the Yahoos even when
he is with his family. His repulsion leads him to buy two horses, and he spends most of his
time with them in the stable away from his own family.
Overview of the plot :

«Gulliver’s Travels recounts the story of Lemuel Gulliver, a practical-minded Englishman

trained as a surgeon who takes to the seas when his business fails. In a deadpan first-person
narrative that rarely shows any signs of self-reflection or deep emotional response, Gulliver
narrates the adventures that befall him on these travels.
Gulliver’s adventure in Lilliput begins when he wakes after his shipwreck to find himself
bound by innumerable tiny threads and addressed by tiny captors who are in awe of him but
fiercely protective of their kingdom. They are not afraid to use violence against Gulliver,
though their arrows are little more than pinpricks. But overall, they are hospitable, risking
famine in their land by feeding Gulliver, who consumes more food than a thousand
Lilliputians combined could. Gulliver is taken into the capital city by a vast wagon the
Lilliputians have specially built. He is presented to the emperor, who is entertained by
Gulliver, just as Gulliver is flattered by the attention of royalty. Eventually Gulliver becomes
a national resource, used by the army in its war against the people of Blefuscu, whom the
Lilliputians hate for doctrinal differences concerning the proper way to crack eggs. But things
change when Gulliver is convicted of treason for putting out a fire in the royal palace with his
urine and is condemned to be shot in the eyes and starved to death. Gulliver escapes to
Blefuscu, where he is able to repair a boat he finds and set sail for England.

After staying in England with his wife and family for two months, Gulliver undertakes his
next sea voyage, which takes him to a land of giants called Brobdingnag. Here, a field worker
discovers him. The farmer initially treats him as little more than an animal, keeping him for
amusement. The farmer eventually sells Gulliver to the queen, who makes him a courtly
diversion and is entertained by his musical talents. Social life is easy for Gulliver after his
discovery by the court, but not particularly enjoyable. Gulliver is often repulsed by the
physicality of the Brobdingnagians, whose ordinary flaws are many times magnified by their
huge size. Thus, when a couple of courtly ladies let him play on their naked bodies, he is not
attracted to them but rather disgusted by their enormous skin pores and the sound of their
torrential urination. He is generally startled by the ignorance of the people here—even the
king knows nothing about politics. More unsettling findings in Brobdingnag come in the form
of various animals of the realm that endanger his life. Even Brobdingnagian insects leave
slimy trails on his food that make eating difficult. On a trip to the frontier, accompanying the
royal couple, Gulliver leaves Brobdingnag when his cage is plucked up by an eagle and
dropped into the sea.

Next, Gulliver sets sail again and, after an attack by pirates, ends up in Laputa, where a
floating island inhabited by theoreticians and academics oppresses the land below, called
Balnibarbi. The scientific research undertaken in Laputa and in Balnibarbi seems totally inane
and impractical, and its residents too appear wholly out of touch with reality. Taking a short
side trip to Glubbdubdrib, Gulliver is able to witness the conjuring up of figures from history,
such as Julius Caesar and other military leaders, whom he finds much less impressive than in
books. After visiting the Luggnaggians and the Struldbrugs, the latter of which are senile
immortals who prove that age does not bring wisdom, he is able to sail to Japan and from
there back to England.

Finally, on his fourth journey, Gulliver sets out as captain of a ship, but after the mutiny of his
crew and a long confinement in his cabin, he arrives in an unknown land. This land is
populated by Houyhnhnms, rational-thinking horses who rule, and by Yahoos, brutish
humanlike creatures who serve the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver sets about learning their language,
and when he can speak he narrates his voyages to them and explains the constitution of
England. He is treated with great courtesy and kindness by the horses and is enlightened by
his many conversations with them and by his exposure to their noble culture. He wants to stay
with the Houyhnhnms, but his bared body reveals to the horses that he is very much like a
Yahoo, and he is banished. Gulliver is grief-stricken but agrees to leave. He fashions a canoe
and makes his way to a nearby island, where he is picked up by a Portuguese ship captain who
treats him well, though Gulliver cannot help now seeing the captain—and all humans—as
shamefully Yahoolike. Gulliver then concludes his narrative with a claim that the lands he has
visited belong by rights to England, as her colonies, even though he questions the whole idea
of colonialism. »

Source : Gulliver’s Travels: Plot Overview | SparkNotes

Structure :

The structure of Gulliver’s Travels is fairly simple. There are only two introductory items
before the story of the travels begins. The first item is a letter from Captain Gulliver to his
cousin, and the second item is the «publisher »’s word to the reader.

The story of Gulliver’s travels is structured into four separate voyages. The simple structure
contributes to give the book an impression of authenticity. The adventure story of Lemuel
Gulliver is made to look like a real story as the narrative sounds realistic. The bibliographical
details given in the beginning contribute to the illusion of reality that the author intends to
reinforce in the minds of the readers. The life of Lemuel Gulliver is presented through a
number of details ; the reader is informed that the young Lemuel Gulliver first went to college
in Cambridge, and then he became a surgeon trainee in London. After ending his medical
education he worked as a ship surgeon. The authorial voice of the «Publisher »confesses to
the reader that Lemuel Gulliver was an intimate friend of his, which is an attempt to
manipulate the reader into believing that the travels were narrated as they occurred in reality.

As the narrative moves on, the author continues to pretend that the adventures were real
events taking place in different places round the world. For this purpose, he provides details
and geographical references supported with maps for the sake of making the narrative sound
convincing.

It is important to underline the fact that when Gulliver’s Travels was written by Jonathan
Swift it was a period of discovery of many parts of the world. Travel accounts were a source
of interest for readers, especially narratives of travels in remote and outlandish territories. The
readers’ interest in travel texts and fabulous voyages was fuelled by the discoveries made
during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Although, Gulliver’s travels were too fabulous to be thought of as real accounts, this genre
was fashionable at the time of Jonathan Swift. The simple structure of this narrative story is
supported with bibliographical and geographical details in order to make the story as
attractive to the reader as possible.

The question that should be raised is the following : how attractive is Gulliver’s Travels to
21st century reader ? How relevant is it to our contemporary concerns ?