Gulliver's Travels - Episode Two

John Yorke looks at the second half of Jonathan’s Swift’s 1726 novel Gulliver’s Travels, taking in Gulliver’s voyages to the floating island of Laputa and to the land of the Houyhnhnms. Laputa and its neighbouring territories are populated by absurdly misguided academics and scientists, while the Houyhnhnms are ultra-rational talking horses who share their kingdom with bestial humans, or Yahoos. This part of the book is far darker than the first half, in which Gulliver spends time with tiny people and then with giants, which explains why it hasn’t featured in many children’s adaptations. John shows how Swift aims his satire at the dangers of valuing abstract scientific speculation over common sense and of allowing delusions of human rationality to justify atrocities. Targets that sadly have lost none of their relevance 300 years on from the book’s publication. John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters - now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for R4. Contributors: Valerie Rumbold is Professor Emeritus of English Literature at the University of Birmingham. She is one of the editors of the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jonathan Swift and is currently working on the forthcoming Oxford Edition of the Writings of Alexander Pope. David Quantick is a novelist and satirist. His many TV and radio writing credits include Veep, The Thick of It, Blue Jam and Harry Hill’s TV Burp. His most recent novel is The Hyena. Reader: Ewan Bailey Music: Torquil MacLeod Researcher: Henry Tydeman Production Coordinator: Dawn Williams Sound: Sean Kerwin Producer: Torquil MacLeod Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael A Pier production for BBC Radio 4