MASTERPIECES AS CARTOONS
467
Midsummer Night's Dream,
telling the reader that he ought to read
this work in its original fonn. There is, however, as in all the
Classics
Illustrated,
a biography of the author (these biographies vary in in–
accuracy, but they are all inaccurate to some degree). Swift's cartoon
biography contains a number of trivial errors-such as the statement
that he began to write in 1704-but the important distortion is a truth
which is stated in such a way that it is likely to mislead and deceive
anyone who wants to find out the truth and is limited in the resources
and skills necessary to finding out what the truth is (as, obviously, most
juvenile readers are, whether they are quiz kids or not). The truth
which is stated in such a way as to be entirely misleading is set forth
in the cartoon biography of Swift as follows:
"Gulliver's Travels
was
written by Swift as a savage commentary on the European world Swift
knew, as a condemnation of the laws and customs of his own and
other countries that led one of the characters in the story to describe
the inhabitants of Europe as 'the most pernicious race of little odious
vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the
earth.' In later years Swift's satire became more and more violently bitter,
possibly the result of mental disease which, by 1736, caused him to be–
come insane."
Whoever wrote the cartoon biography may not have a chance to
read the cartoon version. For there is very little in the cartoon version
to suggest that the original is a "savage commentary" in which human
beings are condemned as "odious little vermin." Moreover, the cartoon
biography suggests that Swift was commenting on the state of human
nature in his own time, and not in all times and places which he
knew about. There is also the suggestion that the bitterness and violence
of his satire were probably due to the onset of mental disease. All of
this apology is unnecessary, however, for the reader who only knows of
Swift through the cartoon edition. And what the biography states is
literally true and as true, deceptive. Swift did suffer from mental disease
and the disappointment of his political ambition did inspire in part the
savage indignation which makes
Gulliver's Travels
a masterpiece. But
the juvenile reader has no need of reassurance as to the benign character
of human nature and the one-sidedness of Swift's point of view. In
the cartoon version Gulliver returns to England and we last see and
hear him as he stands at the wheel of the ship which is coming into
an English harbor. The captain of the ship, who is standing next to
him,
says: "There she is! Good old Brittania!" and Gulliver expresses
his own pleasure in returning to civilized Europe and merry England by
saying: "I certainly am happy to be back ... but it will take me weeks
