Page 89 - Gullivers
P. 89
V. A. Poirson
of any visual significance of Gulliver’s Travels to be published in English
is illustrated by political satirist Chris Riddell and is discussed in detail elsewhere in this volume.
One of the most striking things arising from looking at a number of illustrated Gulliver’s Travels is that artists have, in general, chosen the same scenes to illustrate. Of course these are key moments in the text, and the dramatic possibilities of some of them are very alluring to an artist. While some but not all, show Gulliver emerging from the shipwreck that casts him on Lilliput, none has missed Gulliver tied down, hair in hanks, pinioned to the ground, and earnestly examined by Lilliputians. Gulliver drawing the Blefuscu ships to the shores of Lilliput is also visually present in the editions discussed here, despite the time artists must have invested in the finer details of the ships’ rigging. Also, he is shown by most of the illustrators discussed in some variant of the scene where he holds the Lilliputian king in his hand or where Lilliputians in their carriages parade around his dining table. Generally the Brobdingnagian farmers exclaiming in surprise at their minute
IV. Picturing Gulliver
83
