Gulliver's Travels: A Signature Performance by David Hyde Pierce

By: Jonathan Swift

Narrated by: David Hyde Pierce

Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Four-time Emmy Award winner David Hyde Pierce is famous for playing the lovably self-important Dr. Niles Crane in the hit TV series Frasier. Now, he brings the same wit and charming arrogance to his Signature Classics performance of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.

More than just a mock travel book and fabulous adventure, Gulliver’s Travels is a character study and social satire that skewers politics, science, religion, philosophy, and pretentiousness with a bite and resonance that remains as fresh today as the day it was published. Maybe that’s why it hasn’t been out of print in nearly 300 years.

Set sail with David Hyde Pierce for a smart, fun, new Gulliver’s Travels experience that’s unlike any other. And stay tuned for more one-of-a-kind performances from actors Leelee Sobiesky, Casey Affleck, Tim Curry, and more, only from Audible Signature Classics.

Listen to more Audible Signature Classics.

Public Domain (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Despite Gulliver’s detailed, and sometimes cumbersome, descriptions of strange lands and their inhabitants, Pierce doesn’t miss a beat. His melodic voice wraps perfectly around Swift’s eighteenth-century language. His pronunciations of the imaginative languages are delightful, especially the neighing expressions of the Houyhnhnms, a utopian society of horses. In a book in which the author’s voice comes through on every page, Pierce’s consistently matter-of-fact tone fits Swift’s own. His reading highlights the author’s humor and sarcasm, pulling the listener into this fantastic journey." ( AudioFile)

mostly just scatological humor

the author is literally obsessed with poop and pee despite all of the overarching term and themes a political and social commentary the author is mostly just concerned with poop and pee

Give it a little bit

Oh my.

Most people will associate Gulliver's Travels with the fanciful tale of a man washing up on shore of the land of the Lilliputions and living amidst those dimunitive people for a time. Several hum-drum movies have been made concerning mostly this portion of the book.

This is the first section of this work, and to be honest I found it a little played out and boring. However, give it to around the middle of section 2 for the author to really get going. He goes into full-on sarcastic parody mode of his contemporary societal norms which range from hilarious to dripping with venom (mostly the former, often both). No class of people are safe from his raw-dogging satire. Much of this translates just fine to modern society as well.

I came away with respect for the author to be so bold in the day and age he wrote this, and fully understanding why this work deserves it's place among the greats. The only criticism I can place upon it is that the author seems to be wholly against interracial relationships as he mentions the prohibiting of such amongst the wisdom of the enlightened peoples he travels amongst.

Fabulous Satire

This is a book written in fantasticical form and utilizes wonderful satire. It is highly entertaining!

Must read

A classic view of socio-political viewpoints. Swifts views will always be relevant to any civilized society as swift captures the best and worst effects of the human condition as related to problems in society.

An excellent rememberanxe

I read Gulliver's Travels a very long time ago. That memory prompted me to make this purchase. The narration was excellent. I found that my memory of the story had been distorted not only by time but by viewing the many versions of it. It was great to rediscover the original. I had great fun with it.

Fantastic

Very enjoyable and ought to be heard /read by more adults. The stories are fantastic for any age, but many people don't realize the humorous references to government, politics and "society" in general. Very clever and I think unexpected.
David Hyde Pierce was the Perfect choice to narrate this classic. His tone and ease with complicated vocabulary made listening to this book a pleasure. I don't think that I had appreciated how clear his voice is and the range of emotion he seems to so easily convey. I am very impressed with his narration.

A Great Work

Just as relevant today as it was when it was written. Perhaps more so. Excellent performance.

Excellent narration of a book that does not make the transition to modernity

Strong credit goes to David Hyde Pierce for his terrific narration of this Swift story that was at times hard to follow and others just dull. It was much more meandering than just Lilliput, which was the only entertaining section. Especially towards the end when it was all about bodily fluids and strange sounding names, the novel was disappointing.

Satire at its finest

What a clever way to indict humanity for all its wrongs. Perhaps even more relevant today than in Swift's time.

Gulliver’s travels

The narrator did a great job with this book. I appreciated it much more than I ever had at past readings. I had not taken this book as seriously as it deserves to be taken. Very glad I came upon this audible version and gave it a try. The story gets better and better as it goes on so it’s worth sticking with it. The satire relates to so much in the present world.