“[T]o think my book of travels a mere fiction out of mine own brain”: Swift’s Skeptical Utopianism in Gulliver’s Travels
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This article explores the skeptical approach to utopian ideals taken by Jonathan Swift. Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels seems closely comparable to Thomas More’s Utopia based on the two authors’ shared vision, or what I phrase as “skeptical utopianism.” Gulliver’s existence in Houyhnhnmland emblematizes man’s middle station, for Gulliver is positioned between the Yahoos, an irredeemable species wholly governed by primitive passions and the Houyhnhnms, who without fail obey the dictates of right reason. This perspective, indeed, mirrors More’s Christian humanism, a doctrine that promotes man’s potential for self-edification and social progress, but sees man’s original fall as forestalling the perfection of such Enlightenment projects. Thus, both More and Swift express a serious doubt over excessive infatuation with unattainable ideals. Their skeptical utopianism seeks to strike a balance between deep yearnings for an ideal state and serious reservations about its practicability. It is this critical skepticism implicit in Utopia and Gulliver’s Travels that makes them distinguishable from other early modern utopian narratives, which are characterized by their unmitigated optimism for the perfection of human society. In articulating such skeptical utopianism, Swift’s satirical energy is primarily channeled to parodying Gulliver’s blind enthusiasm. What undermines Gulliver’s credibility as a narrator is therefore his unrestrained fanaticism. While the madness shown by the imperialist Lilliputian king and the tyrannical Laputian crown mirrors that of protagonist-narrator as self-aggrandizing jingoist, Gulliver, owing to his absolute devotion to the Houyhnhnms’ ideals, becomes a bitter cynic—a radical self-reinvention that nevertheless renders the narrator equally untrustworthy.
Abstract
This article explores the skeptical approach to utopian ideals taken by Jonathan Swift. Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels seems closely comparable to Thomas More’s Utopia based on the two authors’ shared vision, or what I phrase as “skeptical utopianism.” Gulliver’s existence in Houyhnhnmland emblematizes man’s middle station, for Gulliver is positioned between the Yahoos, an irredeemable species wholly governed by primitive passions and the Houyhnhnms, who without fail obey the dictates of right reason. This perspective, indeed, mirrors More’s Christian humanism, a doctrine that promotes man’s potential for self-edification and social progress, but sees man’s original fall as forestalling the perfection of such Enlightenment projects. Thus, both More and Swift express a serious doubt over excessive infatuation with unattainable ideals. Their skeptical utopianism seeks to strike a balance between deep yearnings for an ideal state and serious reservations about its practicability. It is this critical skepticism implicit in Utopia and Gulliver’s Travels that makes them distinguishable from other early modern utopian narratives, which are characterized by their unmitigated optimism for the perfection of human society. In articulating such skeptical utopianism, Swift’s satirical energy is primarily channeled to parodying Gulliver’s blind enthusiasm. What undermines Gulliver’s credibility as a narrator is therefore his unrestrained fanaticism. While the madness shown by the imperialist Lilliputian king and the tyrannical Laputian crown mirrors that of protagonist-narrator as self-aggrandizing jingoist, Gulliver, owing to his absolute devotion to the Houyhnhnms’ ideals, becomes a bitter cynic—a radical self-reinvention that nevertheless renders the narrator equally untrustworthy.
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