Page 91 - Gullivers

whether Swift has found his ideal pictorial companion. Most, if not all, of the editions discussed here are remarkably faithful
to the text, directing the reader’s gaze
to elaborations of the incidents depicted, but in general, not adding very much. Possibly the richness of Swift’s own imagination in its descriptions of Gulliver’s voyages has been a restraint. There is
a sense that Arthur Rackham has not approached his subject matter here with his normal gusto, and an obligation to the text can be detected in the work
of other artists. An edition published in 1864 with wood-engravings designed by J.G.Thomson adds a comic dimension to some events, especially those involving the Houyhnhnms, and Riddell and King also see a humorous side to the horse- like creatures who are more frequently portrayed as noble. J.J. Grandville has extended somewhat the grotesque elements of the story, and scenes are invested with his own obsessions with nightmarish fantasies. Denis Donoghue comments that Grandville has brought his own fascination with eyes, which he called ‘les tours de force de l’esprit’,
to Swift’s text, his close-up depiction
of an eye directing its gaze to its subject,
inviting the reader to gaze also on that subject.
Abridged and edited versions of
the story aimed at a young audience have been matched by more child-focused illustrations, in particular in more recent times, but Chris Riddell has figuratively redeemed some of the spikier elements of the tale for a new audience. There
are comic book versions of the story available, it has been filmed for television and Hanna-Barbera have produced a cartoon version of the voyages to Lilliput and Brobdingnag. P.J. Lynch has painted two scenes from Gulliver’s Travels, bringing Gulliver back to a Lilliputian version of Cavan town in one.
It is a story which has inspired illustrators for over two centuries, but the full force of savagery of Swift’s words, still relevant for our times, has yet to be captured in moving images. Meanwhile, the work of the artists discussed here can intrigue and delight the viewer with their own interpretations of this masterpiece of literature.
IV. Picturing Gulliver
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