Gulliver's Travels (For Further Study)

For Further Study

• Frank Brady, "Vexations and Diversion: Three Problems in 'Gulliver's Travels,'" in Modern Philology: A Journal Devoted to Research in Medieval and Modern Literature, Vol. 75, 1978, pp. 346-367.

  A good overview of approaches to Gulliver's Travels and an analysis of the humor, the sense of historical degeneration, and Swift's true intentions. A "soft" school interpretation.

• Arthur E. Case, "The Significance of 'Gulliver's Travels,'" in Four Essays on "Gulliver's Travels" Princeton University Press, 1945, pp. 97-126.

  A critical assessment of the book Gulliver's Travels.

• J. A. Downie, "Political Characterization in 'Gulliver's Travels,'" in Yearbook of English Studies, Vol. 7, 1977, pp. 108-120.

  Downie argues against the usual reading of Gulliver's Travel s as a political allegory by demonstrating how such a reading fails in all four books.

• Jenny Mezciems, "Swift's Praise of Gulliver: Some Renaissance Background to the Travels," in The Character of Swift's Satire: A Revised Focus, edited by Claude Rawson, University of Delaware Press, 1983, pp. 245-281.

  A discussion of how Swift used Renaissance genres to write his book.

• Frank Palmeri, Critical Essays on Jonathan Swift, G. K. Hall, 1993, pp. 1-10.

  A useful collection of essays about Swift, his historical context, and major themes and techniques in his work, including Gulliver's Travels. Palmeri's introduction offers a very fine historical overview of criticism about Swift.

• Ricardo Quintana, "'Gulliver's Travels': Sine Structural Properties and Certain Questions of Critical Approach and Interpretation," in The Character of Swift's Satire: A Revised Focus, edited by Claude Rawson, University of Delaware Press, 1983, pp. 282-304.

  An excellent summary of formal and interpretive issues and a discussion of the main interpretations to date.

• Edward J. Rielly, editor, Approaches to Teaching Swift's 'Gulliver's Travels', The Modern Language Association of America, 1988.

  An extremely useful guide, containing descriptions of materials for teaching the text, discussions of different methods for introducing students to the issues in the work, examinations of several themes and issues, and a survey of assignments and syllabi to be used in conjunction with the book.

• Richard H. Rodino, "'Splendide Mendax': Authors, Characters, and Readers in 'Gulliver's Travels,'" in PMLA: Publication of the Modern Language Association of America, Vol. 106, No. 5, 1991, pp. 1054-1070.

  A study of Gulliver and his relationship with language, writing, and readers to explain how the book can support both the hard and the soft interpretations.

• Pat Rogers, "Introduction," Gulliver's Travels (includes quotes from early reviews), Everyman's Library Edition, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1991.

  An overview of the history of Gulliver's Travels, its writing, influences on it, and critical responses to it.

• Peter J. Schakel, editor, Critical Approaches to Teaching Swift, AMS Press, 1992.

  A collection of essays that model different critical approaches to reader Jonathan Swift's work. There are several essays on Gulliver's Travels and a bibliography for teachers.

• Frederik N. Smith, "Vexing Voices: The Telling of Gulliver's Story," in Papers on Language and Literature: A Journal for Scholars and Critics of Language and Literature, Vol. 21, No. 4, 1985, pp. 383-398.

  Smith examines the relationship between Jonathan Swift and Lemuel Gulliver, questioning whether we should read Gulliver as a spokesman for Swift.

• Frederik N. Smith, editor, The Genres of 'Gulliver's Travels', University of Delaware Press, 1990.

  A collection of essays discussing the influence of different eighteenth-century genres, such as travel narratives and the novel, on the work.

• Paul Turner, Introduction to Gulliver's Travels (includes quotes from early reviews), Oxford University Press, 1986.

  A helpful overview of the work.

• J. K. Welcher, "Gulliver in the Market Place," in Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, Vol. 217, 1983, pp. 125-139.

  Welcher describes the book's best-seller status in the eighteenth century, and examines the way capitalism appears in the story.