Soupçon III In Memoriam Series III.x
How to read "Gulliver's Travels" in 2026 when the Elon Musk's and Jeff Bezos of the world are busy exploring the space on a private company basis? Indeed, if one were to possibly afford a seat on the SpaceX or Virgin Galactic vehicle, one might visit simply unthinkable planetary worlds which, like Swift's fantasy territories, may help one critique the twenty-first century crudities, cruelties and culpabilities from a space-ial vision, right?
Yes, Swift's 'Gulliver's Travels' remains relevant even after three centuries. His flying Island of Laputa, for example, is like the IG Nobels awarded to crazy inventions every year.
His Lilliputians fighting over which side of an egg to break may find a mate in contemporary tussles of leaders over trivial issues that loom large for decades. An example might be the Putin-Zelensky-Trump tiffs, not to forget the Iran issue which forever threatens to turn/blow in to the third world war!
Similarly, Gulliver's travels, especially in the last book, show us how current communication is nothing but different echo chambers being extremely happy with their own unique reverberations and replicas!
Unlike Daniel Defoe's almost contemporaneous novel, "Robinson Crusoe", a tale of survival via the Protestant work ethic, "Gulliver's Travels" does not exhibit colonising and/or proselytising tendencies. Nor is Gulliver's viewpoint instrumental. Hence, by contrast, it shows up the exploitation of all sorts of resources rampant now. Hence the relevance of reading today this three year old narrative, despite its rather heavy style!
Pratima Agnihotri
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