‘In a little time I felt something alive moving on my left leg, which advancing gently forward over my breast, came almost up to my chin; when bending mine eyes downwards as much as I could, I perceived it to be a human creature not six inches high.’

Lemuel Gulliver, ship’s surgeon and castaway, has awoken in Lilliput, where the size of the tiny inhabitants makes their concerns and quarrels seem ridiculous. A second journey takes him to the kingdom of giants, where again his size gives him new insights into human behaviour. Then, after he is cast adrift by pirates, Gulliver visits a series of islands where learning is misdirected and immortality is only misery. Gulliver’s final voyage brings him to the land of the Houyhnhnms, horses with reason, who share their domain with the brutish Yahoos. He returns to England a changed man.

Swift’s corrosive satire embraces all aspects of humanity. It is witty when dealing with foibles and frailty, bitterly angry when facing pride and stupidity, but compassionate and unsentimental when focused upon suffering.