Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver’s Travels is a satirical novel by Jonathan Swift, first published in 1726. Lemuel Gulliver, a ship’s surgeon with an unfortunate talent for shipwrecks, voyages to four extraordinary lands that hold up a mirror to the follies of European civilization.

His journeys take him to Lilliput, where tiny people wage war over which end of an egg to crack; to Brobdingnag, where giants regard him as a curious insect; to Laputa, a flying island of absent-minded intellectuals; and finally to the land of the Houyhnhnms, rational horses who keep brutish human-like creatures as servants. Through each voyage, Swift sharpens his blade against politics, science, law, and human nature itself, creating a work that operates brilliantly as both adventure story and philosophical satire.

One of the most widely read books in the English language, Gulliver’s Travels endures as a devastating commentary on pride, power, and the gap between what humanity claims to be and what it actually is.