Glubbdubdrib (also spelled Glubdubdrib or Glubbdubdribb in some editions) was an island of sorcerers and

magicians Magician or The Magician may refer to: Performers * A practitioner of magic (supernatural) * A practitioner of magic (illusion) * Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context Entertainment Books * ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...

, one of the imaginary countries visited by

Lemuel Gulliver Lemuel Gulliver () is the fictional protagonist and narrator of ''Gulliver's Travels'', a novel written by Jonathan Swift, first published in 1726. In ''Gulliver's Travels'' According to Swift's novel, Gulliver was born in Nottinghamshire c. ...

in the 1726 satirical novel '' Gulliver's Travels'' by Anglo-Irish author

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dubl ...

. The episode on Glubbdubdrib "explores the theme of humanity's progressive degeneration."

Location

The location of Glubdubdrib is illustrated in both the text and the map at the beginning of part III of ''Gulliver's Travels'', though they are not consistent with each other. The map shows Glubdubdrib to be southwest of the port of Maldonada on the southwest coast of Luggnagg, while the text states the island is southwest of

Balnibarbi Balnibarbi is a fictional land in Jonathan Swift's 1726 satirical novel '' Gulliver's Travels''. it was visited by Lemuel Gulliver after he was rescued by the people of the flying island of Laputa. Location The location of Balnibarbi is illust ...

, and Maldonada to be a port of that land.

Description

Glubbdubdrib is about one third as large as the Isle of Wight. The inhabitants of Glubbdubdrib can wield magic, and most of their technology is utilized through magical means. The eldest in succession is prince or governor of the island. He has a 'noble' palace, and a park of about three thousand acres, surrounded by a wall of hewn stone twenty foot high. On visiting Glubbdubdrib, Gulliver had the occasion, thanks to the power of their

necromancer Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events ...

s, to speak with

Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC), often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Serv ...

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

, whom Gulliver greatly admired, among many other famous historical personages, including

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

. Many ideas of historians were corrected this way. Gulliver spends five days doing this, then three days looking at some of the 'modern' dead, trying to find the greatest figure in the past 200 or 300 years in his country and others in Europe. Gulliver gets a new view of historians and heroes, claiming 'I was chiefly disgusted with modern History'.GT pt III, ch8: OWC p186

Notes

References

*Jonathan Swift: ''Guliver's Travels'' Oxford World Classics (1986, reprint 2008) introduction by Claude Rawson, explanatory notes by Ian Higgins Fictional elements introduced in 1726 Fictional countries Fictional islands Gulliver's Travels locations Fictional island countries {{Fict-location-stub

Location

Description

Further reading

Notes

References