Gulliver’s Erotic Adventures

A Russian woman, Neonilla Samukhina, claims that the original version of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels was far racier, containing numerous explicit sex scenes... and she happens to have acquired a manuscript of this early version. She published a Russian translation of it last week.

The book features the hero of 18th century Irish author Jonathan Swift’s famous satire in physical encounters with tiny Lilliputs — who are only 15 centimeters tall — and in Brobdingnag, which is inhabited by 20-meter giants.

No experts seem to be taking her claims very seriously. Obvious signs that it's a hoax are that she refuses to allow anyone to see the manuscript, nor will she allow them to read the English text (she's worried about people reprinting it since Swift's work is no longer copyrighted). University of Ulster Professor Joseph McMinn comments that, "I think this is a clever way of selling an erotic text, by giving it the appearance of ‘serious’ literature, and inventing a mystery story about its origins." Of course, all those high-school kids who are forced to read Gulliver's Travels probably would find the erotic version more interesting.

Literature/Language Sex/Romance

Posted on Mon Aug 22, 2005


Comments

Lili, put me in, eh? Lemme- you'll never regret it...funny, huh...Liliput and Lemuel...forget it
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Mon Aug 22, 2005  at  12:19 PM
The original Gulliver's Travels wasn't exactly an erotic text, but there were plenty of raunchy parts in it.
If the high-school kids would just pay attention, they would notice such things.
Posted by Big Gary in Dallas  on  Mon Aug 22, 2005  at  04:40 PM
I never read it in highschool. It was required. I did read about Swift wanting to feed poor children to the rich. That was neat.
Posted by Maegan  on  Tue Aug 23, 2005  at  05:48 AM
*WASN'T required.
Posted by Maegan  on  Tue Aug 23, 2005  at  06:01 AM
she showed me her Blethescue, so I showed her my Brobdinang...and yes, I'm sure I misspled one of those...bite my Liliputian
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Tue Aug 23, 2005  at  01:05 PM
Swift didn't exactly want to feed poor children to the rich. He wrote a satire ("A Modest Proposal") in which he argued that eating the poor children of Ireland would be more charitable than the way the British government was currently treating them and their parents. Probably as many people were outraged at the suggestion as got the point Swift was making, though.
Posted by Big Gary in his vast library  on  Tue Aug 23, 2005  at  04:45 PM
Have to agree with Big Gary on this one. Having read the unexpurgated and annotated Gullivers Travels by Isaac Asimov, I recall the somewhat suggestive but not overly dirty description of Lemuel's treatment at the hands and other features of the ladies of the court of Brobdignag.

And isn't the queen of Lilliput just a little too upset at the way Lemuel saves her from the fire in the palace?

I won't mention Yahoos . . . Too many of them seem to have Internet access these days.
Posted by DFStuckey  on  Wed Aug 24, 2005  at  10:40 PM
Readers who are fluent in Russian may buy a copy of the Russian translation at Petropol, a Russian bookshop in Brookline, MA. The URL for the Swift book is http://petropol.com/browse/fetch.php?id=127059&type=book

The cost is $17.99. The (translated) title is The Erotic Adventures of Gulliver. From Unpublished Materials. The ISBN is 5-963900191.
Posted by Richard Martin  on  Tue Sep 27, 2005  at  09:32 AM
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