Born on 30 November 1667, Jonathan Swift was a famous Irish author, satirist and clergyman well known for writing Gulliver's Travels and A Tale of a Tub. Popular for being a political satirist, he worked as editor of the political magazine Examiner, the official paper of the Tories when they came to power in 1710. Swift also published an important political pamphlet known as The Conduct of the Day which was a sharp attack on the Whigs. He later went on to become the dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland.
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First published as Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, Gulliver's Travels is a fine example of satire on human nature as well as on the genre of travel writing. A masterpiece of English literature, the novel has never gone out of print since its publication in 1726. Its universality is truly commendable as it can be read as a children's story as well as a work of satire on English politics and society. The story follows the adventures of Lemuel Gulliver as he travels to four distinct lands-Lilliput, Brobdingnag, the kingdom of Laputa and surrounding territories, and the Land of the Houyhnhnms where he meets curious creatures and witnesses worldviews starkly opposed to that of the English society he is so familiar with. An evergreen tale, Gulliver's Travels has been adapted to music, film, television and radio several times over the years.
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