英美文学

• GULLIVER’S TRAVELS

Jonathan Swift

• Jonathan Swift(1667-1745),a posthumous child遗腹子, was born in Dublin, Ireland in 18 century, • He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin.

• Between 16 and 1699, he worked as a private secretary to a distant kinsman Sir William Temple, a

retired diplomat.

• Jonathan Swift的散文平易有力，然又饶有韵味，其典雅促进了18世纪英语的规范化，其质朴发展了应该散

文中的平易传统，历来被公认为the greatest prose satirist in English literature.

• Master works

• 《书的战争》（1704） The Battle of the Books • 《一只桶的故事》（1704） Tale of a Tub

• 《斯特拉日记》（1710-1713） Journal to Stella • 《布商的信》（1724，1725） Letters of Mercer • 《格列佛游记》（1726） Gulliver's Travels

• 《一个小小的建议》（1729） A Modest Proposal

th

《布商的信》（1724，1725） Letters of Mercer 《一个小小的建议》（1729） A Modest Proposal

denounce the cruel and unjust treatment of Ireland be the English government

and stir up Irish people to fight

• 《一只桶的故事》（1704） Tale of a Tub

• A stire upon all religious sects • An attack on Christianity itself

• 《书的战争》（1704） The Battle of the Books

• An attack on pedantry卖弄文学

1. Gulliver's Travels (1726, amended 1735), officially Travels by Lemuel Gulliver into Several Remote Nations of the World, including Four Parts. 2. Lemuel Gulliver , firstly a Surgeon, and then a Captain of several Ships. 3. Gulliver's Travels is a novel by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift. This nevol is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the \"travelers' tales\". It is Swift's best known full-length work, and a classic of English literature. The book is divided into four parts, which are as follows

• • • •

Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput (小人国）

Part II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag（大人国） Part III: A Voyage to Flying Island（飞岛国） Part IV: A Voyage to Houyhnhnms（慧马国）

Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput

• The first voyage has been interpreted as an allegorical(讽喻的) satire of the political events of the early eighteenth century, a commentary on the moral state of England.

• In the part 1, the war with the tiny neighboring island represents England‘s rivalry（对抗） between Whigs and Tories

Part II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag

• Brobdingnagians are good-natured creatures, and they treat Gulliver kindly, though they are amused by his tiny size and looked upon him as a plaything.

• And the king shows his doubts to what Gulliver says about his proud county’s electoral system, parliamentary system and the measures for the sharp criticism.

• Compared with Lilliput, the Brobdingnagians have an enlightened monarch（开明的君主). He often interrogates（询问)Gulliver on European affairs

Part III: A Voyage to Flying Island

• The voyage to Laputa is a scathing（尖刻的） attack upon science in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and reveals Swift‘s contempt and disdain for abstract theory and ideology（思想） that is not of practical service to human.

1. Houyhnhnms are a superior race of intelligent horses,

Part IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms

2. Yahoo, a vile(极坏的) and depraved（堕落的） race of ape-like creatures.

3.There is no evil, no lie, no illness, no power, no war, no government, no law, no punishment and thousands of other things that exists in our society.