"One of Europe's most important literary figures, Jonathan Swift was also an inspired humorist, a beloved companion, and a conscientious Anglican minister--as well as a hoaxer and a teller of tales. His anger against abuses of power would produce the most famous satires of the English language: Gulliver's Travels as well as the Drapier Papers and the unparalleled Modest Proposal, in which he imagined the poor of Ireland farming their infants for the...

The direct and unadorned narrative describes four remarkable journeys of ship's surgeon Lemuel Gulliver, among them one to the land of Lilliput, where six-inch-high inhabitants bicker over trivialities; and another to Brobdingnag, a land where giants reduce man to insignificance. Written with disarming simplicity and careful attention to detail, this classic is diverse in its appeal: for children, it remains an enchanting fantasy. For adults, it is...

Gulliver travels to the fantasy lands of Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa and the country of the Houyhnhnms.

1) Swift uses his many travels in his life to add excitement to his works. 2) Sterne, an English clergyman, writes an unconventional novel of conversations and reminiscences rather than action.

Lemuel Gulliver always dreamed of sailing across the seas, but he never could have imagined the places his travels would take him. His adventures could be the greatest tales ever told, if he survives to tell them.

"Leo Damrosch draws on discoveries made over the past thirty years to tell the story of Swift's life anew. Probing holes in the existing evidence, he takes seriously some daring speculations about Swift's parentage, love life, and various personal relationships and shows how Swift's public version of his life--the one accepted until recently--was deliberately misleading. Swift concealed aspects of himself and his relationships, and other people in...