The Appreciation of the Satiric Arts and the Cultural Influence in Gulliver’s Travels

Abstract

As an outstanding literary giant of the 18th century in British literary history, Jonathan Swift, a famous English novelist, is well known for his flexible use of ironic skills in his works. It is just because of the ironic skills that his representative satiric novel, Gulliver’s Travels, has been widely read up to now, leaving readers lost in its endless aftertastes. The essay is intended for appreciating the exquisite ironic skills and accordingly, bringing a supernatural, fantastic world to readers’ mind, with the ironic skills ingeniously utilized by Swift. The novel also applies the funny form applied in Pantagruel and Gargantua, by Francois Rabelais, simultaneously influenced by The War between England and France, by Cedicy and Annedy and fully reflects the English culture.