Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (preloved)

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift is a satirical novel that follows Lemuel Gulliver, a shipwrecked sailor, on a series of fantastical voyages to bizarre and fictional lands. In Lilliput, Gulliver is a giant among tiny people and becomes embroiled in their petty politics. In Brobdingnag, a land of giants, he is reduced to the size of a curiosity, forcing him to confront the flaws of human nature. The third part takes him to Laputa, a floating island of intellectuals obsessed with impractical science, satirizing the era’s obsession with reason and abstract knowledge. Finally, in the land of the Houyhnhnms, rational horses live in harmony while humans are seen as brutish and corrupt, which causes Gulliver to question the true nature of humanity. Through these bizarre societies, Swift critiques politics, human behavior, and the limits of reason, making Gulliver’s Travels a deeply satirical and influential work in English literature.