Illustrated by Penko Gelev and Retold by John Malam
Gulliver's Travels is an age-old classic set at the end of the seventeenth century about a seafaring doctor who becomes shipwrecked. When he washes up on shore he collapes on the beach and falls asleep. The island he lands on is called Lilliput and, as many of us know, was inhabited by tiny people who were only six inches high. As Gulliver lays on the beach, the Lilliputians tie him up with what seemed to be miles of strings and build a special carriage to transport him, in a prone position, to their Emperor. The story progresses with Gulliver befriending the Emperor and helping them when they are invaded by their neighbor and enemy, the Blefuscus. The plot twists and turns when Gulliver angers the Emperor and is forced to flee to Blefuscu to keep from being blinded for crimes against the Lilliputians...crimes that he did not even commit. After a short time with the Blefuscudians, Gulliver is rescued by a passing English ship and is able to return to his home in England.
As it turns out, Gulliver cannot long stay off the seas and returns for a second, third and fourth voyage, one taking him to a land of giants, another to an island in the sky on which he spends a small amount of time before leaving to visit an island called Glubbdubdrib, the Island of Magicians. Here he meets a magician who can summon the dead to work as his servants. Gulliver was excited about this prospect since he was able to summon up several dead historical figures, writers and thinkers and have long discussions with them. His final voyage takes him to the Land of Talking Horses, where humanoids (called Yahoos) are animalistic and horses (called Houyhnhnms) govern the land. As he lives with these Houyhnhnms, he realizes they have a gentle and loving spirit and abhor wars and violence that has been such an intricate part of England's history. Gulliver decides to stay with the Houyhnhnms and seeks to become part of their culture, but the Houyhnhnms cannot accept him as a permanent member of their society and force him to leave.
Gulliver's Travels is, in fact, a satire. Swift writes this book to criticize the society that he lives in. These jibs and jabs at the governing entities of England are somewhat difficult for us to understand since we are so far removed from this culture and community in which he has grown up. The wonderful aspect of recreating Gulliver's Travels as a graphic novel is that the story can be simplified to a certain degree but, at the same time, elaborated on via the illustration element. This graphic creation adds a few features that make the reading very enjoyable and understandable. First, there are speech bubbles, but along with this, Malam adds captions under each illustration telling the storyline. By doing this the reader has several avenues through which to gain an understanding of the plot. Second, Malam adds footnotes that explain unfamiliar words used during this time period and languages that Swift makes up for the various peoples Gulliver meets during his travels. I have been reading classic literature since I was a teenager, becoming facinated with Charles Dickens at a very early age, and I even found these footnotes quite helpful. At the end of the novel, Malam adds a biography of Jonathan Swift and follows that with a few pages explaining the satirical elements of the story connecting each race of people and culture in the story with their corresponding partner within England's governmental or political rhelms. After this, he added a timeline depicting Swift's life and accomplishments from 1667 to 1745. I found this interesting since he set the time of Gulliver's first journey at 1799 which would have made this a futuristic work based on the time of his writing the novel in 1726. Finally, Malam adds a page listing all the works of Swift, a page diagraming the story's adaptation in TV and film, and, ultimately, a short index.
As previously stated, I grew up reading the classics, not only for school requirements and also for my own enjoyment. I loved Dickens, Austin, Verne, Shelley and so many more. In today's educational climate, the classics are often set aside for more current works. This is understandable since their are so many current novels that require attention, but also sad in that these classical works are becoming unknown to today's generation. Barron's Educational Series has transformed classics, such as Gullliver's Travels, Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Macbeth, Moby Dick, etc., into graphic format to give today's reader's a glimpse of these wonderful stories. You can locate a complete list of these graphic classics at http://www.barronseduc.com/.
Gulliver's Travels has also been adapted into several films, most recently in 2010, starring Jack Black. A history of the adaptations can be found at http://www.bsecs.org.uk/reviews/ReviewDetails.aspx?id=14&type=4, in an article titled: Spectacle and Satire: American Film Adaptations of Gulliver’s Travels. The YouTube trailer of the Jack Black version can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhoktf7X0aQ and a complete animated version of the story can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=988iuXXMCvs. And, as you can completely understand, the cliffnotes for this novel can be found on SparkNotes at http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gulliver/. Any information you may like to look at regarding John Malam can be found at http://www.johnmalam.co.uk/. Below are some illustrations and novel covers created by Penko Gelev, found at Google Images, http://www.google.com/search?q=penko+gelev&hl=en&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ADSA_enUS408US408&site=webhp&prmd=imvnsoa&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=iElNT5-fEsHu0gGBzv3yAg&ved=0CDcQsAQ&biw=1214&bih=613.
Pendo Gelev: Bulgarian comic creator
Journeys end in lovers meeting.
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