Viajes de Gulliver (Ingles )

WULLIVER  TRAVELS:

Part I: trip to Liliput

See also: Lilliput

May 4, 16997-April 13, 17028

Gulliver captured by the Lilliputians. Oil of Vibert (ca. 1870).

The book begins with a small preamble in which Lemuel Gulliver, in the style of the books of the time, gives a brief review about his life and history before his travels. It tells his origin, his studies and his hobbies; among them travel. He establishes himself as a doctor, but in the face of economic difficulties he decides to embark to improve his situation.

His first trip, as an on-board surgeon, is in the Antelope, which set sail from Bristol in May 1699. In the vicinity of Van Diemen's land (present Tasmania) the ship is shipwrecked and Gulliver reaches the coast after swimming, He falls on the beach and falls asleep.

Upon awakening, he discovers that he has been taken prisoner by a race of people twelve times smaller than a human being, that is, less than 15 cm tall, inhabitants of the islander country of Liliput.

After promising good behavior, you get freedom and become the favorite in court. From this moment, the story gathers the observations of Gulliver in the Court of the sovereign of Liliput, modeled on the contemporary of Great Britain. He is also authorized to walk through the city on the condition of not harming the subjects.

It is then mentioned a war that Liliput maintains with a rival state; Blefusco, whose inhabitants are the same size as the Lilliputians. The narration satirizes the religious conflicts of the Europe of the time. Gulliver intervenes by capturing, thanks to its large size, the enemy fleet; this is worth the granting of an honorary title. However, he falls into disgrace by refusing to turn Blefusco into a mere province of Liliput, disgusting the king and the court. They accuse Gulliver of treason for, among other crimes, "making minor waters" in the capital, although he was putting out a fire and saving numerous lives. He is prosecuted and condemned to be blinded, but with the help of a good friend, Gulliver manages to escape until Blefusco the king welcomes him to have a tool of war but as time goes by Gulliver fixes an abandoned boat and manages to be rescued by a ship that takes him back to his home.

Part II: trip to Brobdingnag

See also: Brobdingnag

June 20, 17029 - June 3, 170610

Gulliver exhibited to Brobdingnag Farmer, by Richard Redgrave

Restless, Gulliver embarks on a new journey. When the Adventure boat is diverted by storms and forced to go to an island in search of fresh water, the landing party is chased by beings of gigantic stature. Gulliver, abandoned by his companions, flees to a cereal field and there is found by a farmer belonging to this race, 22 meters high: the scale of Brobdingnag is around 12: 1, compared to that of Liliput that was 1:12, from Gulliver's calculation that a man's passage was 10 yards (9m). The farmer takes him to his house and his daughter, Glumdalclitch, takes care of Gulliver. The farmer treats it as a curiosity and exhibits it for money.

In this way Gulliver travels the country, which bears the name of Brobdingnag, isolated from the rest of the world by great mountains. On their journey through Brobdingnag, they arrive in the capital: Lorbrulgrud and the show is presented at the Court. The Queen, fascinated by the personality of Gulliver, buys it to take him as a favorite. Constant shows have sickened Lemuel, and that's why the farmer sells it to the queen. The farmer's daughter (who accompanied her father while exposing Gulliver) enters the service of the queen to take care of the dwarf.

As Gulliver is too small to use his chairs, beds, knives, and forks, the Queen orders a small house to be built where he can be transported from one place to another; it is called his "travel box". The traveler is exposed to various adventures because of its small size, like the fight against giant wasps and that a monkey takes it to the roof; while, he discusses the state of Europe with the king. The king is not very happy with Gulliver's accounts of Europe, especially when he learned about the use of rifles and cannons.

On a trip to the coast, the "travel box" is caught by a giant eagle that ends up letting it go over the sea, where it is rescued by a ship with which it returns to England.

Part III: trip to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib and Japan

See also: Laputa

Gulliver discovers Laputa, the flying island (illustration by J.J. Grandville.)

Undertaking a new journey, Gulliver's ship is attacked by pirates and large ships and is left adrift near a desolate rocky island near India. Fortunately he is rescued by the floating island of Laputa, a kingdom dedicated to the arts of music, mathematics and astronomy but absolutely unable to use them in a practical way11.

Laputa's method of throwing rocks over rebellious cities also seems one of the first times in which aerial bombardment was conceived as a method of warfare. Gulliver visits Balnibarbi, the kingdom ruled from Laputa, as a guest of a low-ranking courtier and sees the ruin brought about by the blind pursuit of science without practical results in a satire on bureaucracy and the Royal Society and its experiments.

In the Grand Academy of Lagado, huge resources are invested in totally ridiculous investigations such as extracting sun rays from cucumbers, softening marble to be used as pillows, learning how to mix paint by smell, and discovering political conspiracies by examining the excrements of suspicious people ( see Muckraker).

Gulliver is then taken to Maldonada, the main port, to wait for a merchant who can take him to Japan. While waiting for the passage, Gulliver makes a small trip to the island of Glubbdubdrib, where he visits the dwelling of a magician and talks about history with the ghosts of famous men, a metaphor for the theme of the "ancient against the modern" in the book. It also meets the struldbrugs (in Luggnagg), immortal but unfortunately not young forever, on the contrary, old and with the diseases of old age and those who are considered legally dead at eighty years of age. After reaching Japan, Gulliver asks the Emperor to exempt him from trampling on the crucifix, a ceremony imposed on foreigners, to which the monarch agrees. Gulliver returns home determined to spend the rest of his days there.

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