Amazed

[PeterL]

I just wandered into this section to see what people had to say about one of the grestest writers in the history of the English language. I was shocked and amazed to find that most people thought the Gulliver's Travels was boring. Then I read a few more notes and realized that the readers didn't have the necessary background to understand the book. It does require some understanding of England of that time, including the governmental and religious institutions. It also requires that the reader be able to understand that most of the characters are relatively flat and represent something other than a simple character. A large part of the first section is about the insignificant differences between the Catholic Church and the Church of England and how those differences separated the English and Irish in Ireland. Remember that Dean Swift was the Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin and one of the leaders of the Church of England in a subjugated Ireland, but his sympathy was for the Irish people. Remember also that there was a price on his head when he wrote The Drapier's Letters.

[Etienne]

Someone who think Gulliver's Travels is boring probably finds reading boring, except maybe that Harry Potter they pride themselves in reading.

[The Atheist]

Hear, hear!

Gulliver's Travels boring?

If not the greatest book written in English, I doubt there would be many serious literary critics who wouldn't have it in their top few.

Every part of it offers an outstanding portrait of some human frailty, and in the case of the Houynhnyms, all of them.

on JKR, Etienne.