Gulliver's Travels -- Preface

I am currently reading this text on Project Gutenberg because my numerous copies are locked in a storage unit 300 miles away.

Anyhow, there was a passage in the section entitled "The Publisher to the Reader" that stood out to me.

"This volume would have been at least twice as large, if I had not made bold to strike out innumerable passages relating to the winds and tides, as well as to the variations and bearings in the several voyages, together with the minute descriptions of the management of the ship in storms, in the style of sailors; likewise the account of longitudes and latitudes; wherein I have reason to apprehend, that Mr. Gulliver may be a little dissatisfied.  But I was resolved to fit the work as much as possible to the general capacity of readers."

This passage immediately called to mind Tristram Shandy, which is preoccupied with the importance of minute particulars, and also Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, which gave detailed descriptions of storms and inventories of the ships and also his dwellings on his island.

Robinson Crusoe was published in 1719, Tristram Shandy's first volumes came along in 1759, and Gulliver's Travels fell right in the middle with a publication date in 1726.

I'm sure I'll be able to speak more to the importance of this at a later date, but it's just something I've noticed right off the bat.

Also, it seems that Sterne sets himself apart from Swift in this sense. From the very beginning, Sterne makes it clear that his "life and times" will be unabridged and involve many tangents and digressions. He warns us, just like Gulliver's publisher, but he makes it clear that he has not cut anything from his narrative. Maybe I can find some criticism later on down the road comparing the two prefaces

While Swift and Sterne (I'm not quite so sure about Defoe) are making light of this new form of the "novel," it seems a little bit like the Three Bears: One is too much information presented chaotically, one is a lot of information in an organized manner, and the last is just enough information presented in a neat little package. I may be way off base because I'm still early in my studies, but we'll see I guess.