Was Gulliver an Innocent Abroad?

One of my projects this summer has been to read Gulliver's Travels. It is one of those pieces of English literature that is quoted frequently and referred to more often. I had not read it but have seen the references to it for most of my life. I have also seen the couple of movies based on it (none of them capture the book).

The book was originally published in 1726 and tells the story of one Lemuel Gulliver who is a ship's surgeon (but also a captain) who goes to a bunch of places, unknown in the modern world of the time. Swift starts the story by going to the land of very small people (Lilliput) and very large ones (Brobdingnag). One commentary suggests that the book has not been out of print since it was originally published and has been published in many languages. That suggests the depth of his satire.

In each land he visits Gulliver acquires the language and then makes some generalized comments about the human condition from a lens of the characteristics of the people he is visiting. LIke the first two parts each of his travels the succeeding stories are mirrors of the preceding (small, large, stupid, smart) archetype. In his visit with the Houyhnhnms he lays out some stunning commentary on the role of lawyers and of precedent (perhaps Dickens in Bleak House extended the joke a bit by telling the story of a lawsuit that continues until the entire legacy is spent on lawyer's fees). He is also skeptical of the role of reason. The Houyhnhnms are bound by reason and Gulliver has a tough time in explaining lying and deceit to them.

Swift was born in 1667, in Dublin, and was a prolific writer. He received degrees from Trinity College and Oxford. His doctor of divinity was received from TCD in 1702. During the early part of his adult life he was a priest in the Church of Ireland but he found his real forte in being something akin to a talking head of his day - close to power and sometimes a part of it. He became a publicist for the Tories and was involved in a number of key roles including trying to bind factions of the Tories together. He moved back to Ireland when the Tories were thrown out. He took up the Irish cause when he returned to Dublin.

In each of his visits, Gulliver becomes a courtier and thus can make comments about the form of human organization. He finds no organizational structure perfect. Thus, he makes a larger point about the inability of man to find a perfect system.

As I was reading the book I was struck with the similarities of Twain and Swift. Both are master story tellers who use satire to explain the human condition. In Innocents Abroad, Twain used a real trip through Europe and the Holy Land in 1869 to explain many of the same kinds of things that Swift used in his imaginary journey. There are a couple of direct structural features in each that are similar. Both books use transitions (I won't recount this part of the trip) to skip over humdrum parts of the voyage. Both make very large points about the human condition from seemingly small issues. But Swift seems a lot more attached to power. All of his stories come from being attached to a particular court in each of the lands he visits. That may be attributed to the differences between 18th Century England and 19th Century US or it may be related to the differences in the two writers. From what I have read both seemed to enjoy their celebrityhood.

In his visit to the Houyhnhnms he encounters a human like species called the Yahoos - whose behavior is in almost every way despicable. Before I read the book I had not understood the derivation of the word. His hosts in that country are intelligent horses and the Yahoos are a lesser kind.

I am sure that some of the allusions in the book are lost on me. I am not that well read in that period of history. But his commentary on the foibles of human behavior come shining through - almost 400 years since they were set to paper.