Great Books: Gullivers Travels (1 of 22)

Great Books: Gullivers Travels

Step right up.
Welcome to the world of the strange, the unusual, the fantastic.
Leave the common place behind, take a voyage to the unreal.
You're about to witness human beings with talents that are so so incredibly bizarre you may not believe your eyes.
We have always been intrigued by the grotesque...
deviations from ourselves.
Perhaps its an attempt to answer the question, Who am I?
What is my nature?
At carnivals and amusement parks we can see ourselves and others from different perspectives.
Our imagination is engaged as we see mirrors and distortions of ourselves.

Long ago there lived a genius and prolific writer, Jonathan Swift, who wrote a tale of distorted creatures and distorted perspectives.
In it he also asked the question for all of us.
Who am I?
What is my nature?
The alarm was first raised yesterday afternoon when the 70 foot giant was found shipwrecked on Dublin's Dollyman Strand.
He's clad in a typical period costume.
He appears to be unconscious and totally unaware of the fuss his sudden appearance has caused.
Giant experts who have already examined the floating stranger say he bears a striking resemblance to Jonathan Swift's Gulliver, which first landed in Lilliput in the 18th century.
In the story of Gulliver's Travels this beached sailor takes four voyages to visit creatures large and small in places far away.
It is a dark and comical tale, read on many levels...
Do you know what his name is? No.
Do you know what his hame is? Yes.
What?
Gulliver.
Gulliver?
Where did he come from? He came from Heaven.
He's coming and he's huge! Published in 1726, Gulliver's Travels remains a satiric giant in our literary history.