Readings Classics: Robinson Crusoe

Description

Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, regarded by many to be first novel in English, is also the original tale of a castaway struggling to survive on a remote desert island.

The sole survivor of a shipwreck, Robinson Crusoe is washed up on a desert island. In his journal he chronicles his daily battle to stay alive, as he conquers isolation, fashions shelter and clothes, enlists the help of a native islander who he names ‘Friday’, and fights off cannibals and mutineers. Written in an age of exploration and enterprise, it has been variously interpreted as an embodiment of British imperialist values, as a portrayal of ‘natural man’, or as a moral fable. But above all is a brilliant narrative, depicting Crusoe’s transformation from terrified survivor to self-sufficient master of an island.

Written in 1719, Robinson Crusoe is one of the first novels in English language and arguably the flagbearer of realistic fiction genre. It also enjoys the distinction of being the most reprinted novel in history. Although a simply adventure story, it continues to captivate its readers even three hundred years after its first publication.

Author Biography

Daniel Defoe was many people in one man: a trader, a writer, a traveler, and a spy. He was born in London on September 13, 1660. He is most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe and is considered among the founders of the English novel along with Aphra Behn and Samuel Richardson. His other notable fictional works include: The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719), Memoirs of a Cavalier (1720), A Journal of the Plague Year (1722), and Moll Flanders (1722). Defoe also wrote various pamphlets, often giving a critical judgement on the current political scenarios. His An Essay upon Projects (1697) was published as a series which advocated social and economic improvements. He also satirized the English notion of racial purity in his poem “The True-Born Englishman” (1701). Defoe died at the age of 70 in London on April 24, 1731.