It is computed, that eleven thousand persons have, at several times, suffered death, rather than submit to break their eggs at the smaller end.—Jonathan SwiftGulliver's Travels, 1726Part 1 "A Voyage to Lilliput," Chapter 4
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| J. J. Grandville, 1838 |
Jonathan Swift's deft satire, with Big-Endians and Little-Endians caught up in an insurmountable political conflict over at which end one should break an egg, reflects the real-world polarization between Roman Catholics and Protestants. The passage from Gulliver's Travels was unexpectedly brought to mind recently by consideration of Jean-Jacques Sempé's 1970 poster for an exhibition at Galerie Seder. The cartoon image therein presents an allegory of our tendency to inflate minor conflicts into total warfare. The two different variations on the French tricolor, one vertical and one horizontal, are a nice touch, seemingly trivial differences in banners for people to rally behind.
It's baffling that a Sempé exhibition even in 1970 would last only 15 days. It's difficult to fathom as well that at auction last month the hard-to-find poster would fail to find a buyer. But it's coming back to the auction block later this month for another try.
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| Jean-Jacques Sempé Exhibition Poster for Galerie Seder, November 5-20, 1970 |
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| https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/sempe-galerie-seder-1970-7b440b7806 |
A direct cultural descendent of Swift, if not of Sempé, is Dr. Seuss's Butter Battle Book published in 1984. Thank goodness we Americans also had a way to learn of the dangers of polarization. Now if only we had paid attention.
Then my grandfather said,
“It’s high time that you knew
of the terribly horrible thing that Zooks do.
In every Zook house and in every Zook town
every Zook eats his bread
with the butter side down![”]—Dr. SeussThe Butter Battle Book, 1984
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| Dr. Seuss The Butter Battle Book (1984) |
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