Gulliver's Travels/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Anvilicious: Swift isn't shy about hiding his contempt for the English society of his day, or for human beings in general. However, what kind of society he advocates as a better alternative (or even whether he thinks a better alternative is possible) remains hotly contested.
  • Applicability: Certainly relevant here.
  • Crowning Moment of Funny: Many, particularly if you're inclined to Swift's unique blend of comedy.
  • First Installment Wins: Everyone's heard of Lilliput, few of Brobdingnag, only anime fans of Laputa, and almost no-one of the Houyhnhnms (the coinage yahoo, meaning "ill-mannered cretin", comes from the fourth voyage).
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Part two describes Brobdingnag as being located in a part of the world which was not known to Europe at the time. Now we call it Alaska. It's certainly big enough...
  • Mary Suetopia/Dystopia: The Houyhnhnms, again based on the reader's interpretation.
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