Gulliver's Travels
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.
- The most reliable text available, based on the widest possible historical collation
- Lengthy introduction and textual introduction; fuller annotation than any other edition
- Generous appendices presenting important ancillary material with new clarity
Reviews & endorsements
"David Womersley's massive, magnificent edition of Gulliver's Travels is cause for celebration … No edition of Gulliver's Travels approaches this one in scope and authority."
David Oakleaf, The Review of English Studies
"David Womersley's new edition of Gulliver's Travels is a scholarly feat - and feast … splendid … readers have never been better positioned to experience the manifold pleasures and surprises of this journey."
Notes and Queries
"… [this] scholarly edition of Gulliver's Travels is a treasure."
Karen Swallow Prior, Books and Culture (booksandculture.com)
"This weighty tome fulfils with aplomb the considerable demands required of a new standard edition of Swift's masterpiece, and will be essential reading for scholars of the eighteenth century."
Greg Lynall, Modern Language Review
"This is a vast contribution to the Cambridge Swift Project … [It] will stand for many years as the premier edition of the work …"
Jonathan Lamb, SEL Studies in English Literature 1500–1900
Product details
December 2012Hardback
9780521841641
907 pages
236 × 158 × 44 mm
1.56kg
13 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- General editors' preface
- Chronologies
- Introduction
- Gulliver's Travels
- Long notes
- Appendices
- Textual introduction
- Emendations
- Historical collation
- Line-end hyphenation
- MS readings from particular copies
- Bibliography
- Index.