3 Review(s)

Gulliver's Travels is one of the few works of English literature which is also a landmark in world literature. Jonathan Swift's account of Lemuel Gulliver's adventures in the fantastical societies of 'remote nations' was an instant best-seller on publication in 1726 and has remained in the public imagination ever since, as both a satiric fantasy and an analysis of the human condition. This scholarly edition offers an authoritative text, based on the widest possible historical collation of the many editions published in Swift's lifetime; a detailed introduction and textual apparatus; and appendices and illustrations presenting important ancillary material with new clarity. Extensive notes and commentary open out the many layers of meaning and allusion in the text, identify new sources and parallels and offer wide-ranging historical background information. An important addition to the Cambridge Swift Edition, this volume will be indispensable for scholars and students of eighteenth-century literature and ideas.