From School Library Journal
Gr 7 Up-Jonathan Swift's satirical novel was first published in 1726, yet it is still valid today. Gulliver's Travels describes the four fantastic voyages of Lemuel Gulliver, a kindly ship's surgeon. Swift portrays him as an observer, a reporter, and a victim of circumstance. His travels take him to Lilliput where he is a giant observing tiny people. In Brobdingnag, the tables are reversed and he is the tiny person in a land of giants where he is exhibited as a curiosity at markets and fairs. The flying island of Laputa is the scene of his next voyage. The people plan and plot as their country lies in ruins. It is a world of illusion and distorted values. The fourth and final voyage takes him to the home of the Houyhnhnms, gentle horses who rule the land. He also encounters Yahoos, filthy bestial creatures who resemble humans. The story is read by British actor Martin Shaw with impeccable diction and clarity and great inflection. If broken into short listening segments, the tapes are an excellent tool for presenting an abridged version of Gulliver's Travels.-Jean Deck, Lambuth University, Jackson, TNCopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Naxos follows its usual practice of punctuating the narrative with carefully chosen classical music segments appropriate to the mood of the particular part of the story. Neville Jason reads this classic satire, supposedly a travelogue to remote islands with bizarre inhabitants, with an intense British voice that is crisp and effective. This is a heavy abridgment of the original, with some choppiness in continuity. Everyone will recognize the Lilliputians and the giants of Brogdingnag; the airborne islanders and intelligent horses are less familiar. Abridger Daniel Eilon retains the story's essential core, and Jason captures the tone well. D.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Book News, Inc.
Presents the complete text of Gulliver's Travels, with five critical essays from theoretical perspectives such as feminism, the new historicism, deconstructionism, and psychoanalytic criticism. Features an introduction providing biographical and historical contexts for Swift's novel, and introductions to the history, principles, and practice of each critical perspective represented. Includes a survey of critical responses to the novel, and a glossary of critical and theoretical terms. No index. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.


Midwest Book Review
Adults as well as teens will appreciate the abridged story of Gulliver on tape: a reading strengthened by Robert Hardy's excellent rendition. This engaging satire comes forth even stronger in audio format, reinforcing the classic Gulliver tale.


Review
?[Swift] dictated for a time the political opinions of the English nation . . . and showed that wit,
confederated with truth, has such force as authority was unable to resist.??Samuel Johnson


Book Description
This masterpiece tells the incredible tale of Lemuel Gulliver, an English ship's surgeon. He is shipwrecked upon the shores of Lilliput, where the residents are only six inches high, then journeys takes him to the land of Brobdingnag, populated by giants, a floating island in the sky, and a land where horses have intelligence and man lives as a beast. His adventures, while read by children as an adventure story, are a devastating satire of society and human foibles. Part travelogue, part realism, part symbolism, Gullivers Travels remains a treasured classic of literature.


Download Description
One of the unique books of world literature, Swift's masterful satire describes the astonishing voyages of one Lemuel Gulliver, a ship's surgeon, to surreal kingdoms inhabited by miniature people and giants, quack philosophers and scientists, horses endowed with reason and men who behave like beasts. Written with great wit and invention, Gulliver's Travels is a savage parody on man and his institutions that has captivated readers for nearly three centuries.


The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
Four-part satirical novel by Jonathan Swift, published anonymously in 1726 as Travels Into Several Remote Nations of the World. The novel is ostensibly the story of Lemuel Gulliver, a surgeon and sea captain who visits remote regions of the world. In the beginning Gulliver is shipwrecked on Lilliput, where people are six inches tall. The Lilliputians' utterly serious wars, civil strife, and vanities are human follies so reduced in scale as to be rendered ridiculous. His second voyage takes him to Brobdingnag, where lives a race of giants of great practicality who do not understand abstractions. Gulliver's third voyage takes him to the flying island of Laputa and the nearby continent and capital of Lagado. There he finds pedants obsessed with their own specialized areas of speculation and utterly ignorant of the rest of life. At Glubdubdrib, the Island of Sorcerers, he speaks with great men of the past and learns from them the lies of history. He also meets the Struldbrugs, who are immortal and, as a result, utterly miserable. In the extremely bitter fourth part, Gulliver visits the land of the Houyhnhnms, a race of intelligent, virtuous horses served by brutal, filthy, and degenerate creatures called Yahoos.


Card catalog description
The voyages of an Englishman carry him to such strange places as Lilliput, where people are six inches tall; Brobdingnag, a land of giants; an island of sorcerers; and a country ruled by horses.


From the Publisher
8 1.5-hour cassettes

FROM OUR EDITORS

First published in 1726, this classic work of satire presents a world gone haywire, where humans, despite their pomposity and grandiose illusions, are no better than weak and helpless fools. Lemuel Gulliver's journeys take him to Lilliput, a country whose inhabitants are no more than six inches tall; to Brobdingnag, a land of giants; to Laputa, a flying island inhabited by absent-minded people; and to the land of Houyhnhnms, where horselike creatures rule with intelligence and courtesy over repulsive humanlike Yahoos. One of literature's lasting legacies, Swift's trenchant cautionary tale is a witty, allegorical depiction of people at their worst; yet it may also be read as an enchanting, playful children's story with universal appeal.

ANNOTATION

The voyages of an Englishman carry him to such strange places as Lilliput, where people are six inches tall; Brobdingnag, a land of giants; an island of sorcerers; and a country ruled by horses.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Gulliver sets sail for adventure and finds a country beyond his wildest dreams. He's certainly never met anyone like the people of Lilliput. But then the people of Lilliput have never met anyone quite like Gulliver...

SYNOPSIS

This work includes the complete authoritative text with biographical & historical contexts, critical history and essays from five contemporary critical perspectives.

FROM THE CRITICS

Children's Literature - Peg Glisson

This easy reader condenses Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels into 62 pages. On a voyage in the South Seas, an Englishman finds himself shipwrecked in Lilliput, a land of people only six inches high. Originally held as a prisoner, he eventually is allowed to roam freely and helps the Lilliputians in their war with Blefescu. When he is warned that the Lilliputians are turning on him, Gulliver escapes to Blefescu where he seeks refuge until he is able to embark on his journey home. The text's brevity causes large gaps in the story as well as diminishes the wit and satire of Swift's work. Language is awkward and stilted. Illustrations are likewise stiff and often seem stuck on the page with text below and sometimes above the drawings. This is not a piece of literature that translates well into an easy-to-read, controlled vocabulary text. Why ruin this great story by diluting it? 2003, Usborne, Ages 6 to 8.

Children's Literature - Childrens Literature

As noted in the introduction to this adaptation which features the basic story plus background facts and photographs, the story of Lemuel Gulliver and his fascinating world travels has been engaging readers since Jonathan Swift wrote it in 1726. Far from being written as a children's story, the original Gulliver's Travels was a satire of the political leadership and social customs of the time. To help modern readers of all ages understand the satirical side of the story, the DK publishers have produced this version which retells the story in the main text, and, in the margins, explains many story references in notes, pictures, photographs, and diagrams. The technique works, and the explanations embellish rather than intrude on enjoyment of the story. Readers will get to know Gulliver as the braggart he is, while also hanging onto his every word. For those readers who have only met Gulliver through his relationship with the little Lilliputians, there are big surprises here; as he travels to many lands and encounters many cultures and people who are as fanciful as they are memorable. 2000, Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Ages 10 up, $14.95. Reviewer: Judy Katsh—Children's Literature

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-Jonathan Swift's satirical novel was first published in 1726, yet it is still valid today. Gulliver's Travels describes the four fantastic voyages of Lemuel Gulliver, a kindly ship's surgeon. Swift portrays him as an observer, a reporter, and a victim of circumstance. His travels take him to Lilliput where he is a giant observing tiny people. In Brobdingnag, the tables are reversed and he is the tiny person in a land of giants where he is exhibited as a curiosity at markets and fairs. The flying island of Laputa is the scene of his next voyage. The people plan and plot as their country lies in ruins. It is a world of illusion and distorted values. The fourth and final voyage takes him to the home of the Houyhnhnms, gentle horses who rule the land. He also encounters Yahoos, filthy bestial creatures who resemble humans. The story is read by British actor Martin Shaw with impeccable diction and clarity and great inflection. If broken into short listening segments, the tapes are an excellent tool for presenting an abridged version of Gulliver's Travels.-Jean Deck, Lambuth University, Jackson, TN Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Presents the complete text of Gulliver's Travels, with five critical essays from theoretical perspectives such as feminism, the new historicism, deconstructionism, and psychoanalytic criticism. Features an introduction providing biographical and historical contexts for Swift's novel, and introductions to the history, principles, and practice of each critical perspective represented. Includes a survey of critical responses to the novel, and a glossary of critical and theoretical terms. No index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

AudioFile - Don Wismer

Naxos follows its usual practice of punctuating the narrative with carefully chosen classical music segments appropriate to the mood of the particular part of the story. Neville Jason reads this classic satire, supposedly a travelogue to remote islands with bizarre inhabitants, with an intense British voice that is crisp and effective. This is a heavy abridgment of the original, with some choppiness in continuity. Everyone will recognize the Lilliputians and the giants of Brogdingnag; the airborne islanders and intelligent horses are less familiar. Abridger Daniel Eilon retains the story￯﾿ﾽs essential core, and Jason captures the tone well. D.W. ￯﾿ﾽAudioFile, Portland, Maine Read all 7 "From The Critics" >

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