Gulliver Traveled

Well Twin…I, too, finally finished. I read the adventures of Houyhnhnm over yesterday and today. I think this was my favorite part of the book. I liked the second half of this book significantly more than the first half–maybe its because I had expectations and ideas of what would occur in Lilliput and Brobdingnag–but not so for Houyhnhnm (in fact I was quite surprised–horses acting like people!) , Laputa, Glubbdubdrib, etc.

Anyway…I thought Houyhnhmn was pretty enthralling…but also simultaneously horrifying. The idea of these horse sitting on their haunches discussing politics–I found it utterly unsettling. (It still kind of makes me uncomfortable).

My one bone of contention would be Swift’s anthropomorphization of the horses. Why (I ask why!) would advanced horses sit on their haunches, do needlework, and generally act more human I felt that the disrespect for animals otherness was an echo to what we saw in The Wind In the Willows).

And you what I thought of The Wind In the Willows (Spoiler Alert: I’m not a fan).

I was also surprised by how quickly that Gulliver turned his back on his fellow men, the Yahoos. A fair weather man our Lemmy.

I did happen upon a nice little coincidence while reading…as Gulliver lands in Portugal he writes “We arrived at Lisbon, Nov.5, 1715.” — tomorrow’s November 5th! I finished my travels with Gulliver on almost the same day (give or take a hundred years) that he himself finished his journey (or almost finished his journey–okay so maybe its not so much of a coincidence.)

I’m looking forward to reading something a little more modern…I’m thinking I’ll probably try to start our Proustian adventure sometime over the weekend.

Until then,
Jon