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Robinson Crusoe
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Robinson Crusoe and Man Friday by Carl Offterdinger
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Robinson Crusoe and Man Friday by Carl Offterdinger
Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1719 and
sometimes regarded as the first novel in English. The book is a fictional
autobiography of the title character, an English castaway who spends 28
years on a remote island, encountering savages, captives, and mutineers
before being rescued. This device, presenting an account of supposedly
factual events, is known as a "false document", and gives a realistic frame
to the story.
The full title of the novel is The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of
Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner: who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all
alone in an uninhabited Island on the coast of America, near the Mouth of
the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck,
wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last
as strangely deliver'd by Pirates. Written by Himself.
Contents
* 1 Plot summary
* 2 Reception and sequels
* 3 Real-life castaways
* 4 Interpretations
* 5 Cultural influences
* 6 See also
* 7 Notes
* 8 References
* 9 External links
[edit] Plot summary
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Crusoe leaves England on a sea voyage in September 1651 against the wishes
of his parents. The ship is taken over by Salè pirates and Crusoe becomes
the slave of a Moor. He manages to escape with a boat and is befriended by
the Captain of a Portuguese ship off the western coast of Africa. The ship
is en route to Brazil. There with the help of the Captain, Crusoe becomes
owner of a plantation.
He joins an expedition to bring slaves from Africa, but he is shipwrecked in
a storm about forty miles out to sea on an island near the mouth of the
Orinoco river on September 30, 1659. His companions all die; he manages to
fetch arms, tools and other supplies from the ship before it breaks apart
and sinks. He proceeds to build a fenced-in habitation and cave, keeps a
calendar by making marks in a piece of wood. He hunts, grows corn, learns to
make pottery, raises goats, etc. He reads the Bible and slowly becomes
religious, thanking God for his fate in which nothing is missing but
society.
He discovers native cannibals occasionally visit the island to kill and eat
prisoners. At first he plans to kill the savages for their abomination, but
then he realizes that he has no right to do so as the cannibals have not
attacked him and do not knowingly commit a crime. He dreams of capturing one
or two servants by freeing some prisoners, and indeed, when a prisoner
manages to escape, Crusoe helps him, naming his new companion "Friday" after
the day of the week he appeared, and teaches him English and converts him to
Christianity. (In those days, British - and Dutch - whites often called
coloured servants and slaves "Thursday", "Friday", "January" etc.)
After another party of natives arrive to partake in a grisly feast, Crusoe
and Friday manage to kill most of the natives and save two of the prisoners.
One is Friday's father and the other is a Spaniard, who informs Crusoe that
there are other Spaniards shipwrecked on the mainland. A plan is devised
where the Spaniard would return with Friday's father to the mainland and
bring back the others, build a ship, and sail to a Spanish port.
Before the Spaniards return, an English ship appears; mutineers have taken
control of the ship and intend to maroon their former captain on the island.
The captain and Crusoe manage to retake the ship. They leave for England,
leaving behind three of the mutineers to fend for themselves and inform the
Spaniards what happened. Crusoe leaves the island on December 19, 1686. He
travels to Portugal to find his old friend, the Captain, who informs him
that his Brazilian plantation was well cared for and he has become wealthy.
From Portugal, he travels overland to England, to avoid mishaps at sea, via
Spain and France; during winter in the Pyrenees, he and his companions have
to fend off an attack by vicious wolves. Back in England, he decides to sell
his plantation, as returning to Brazil would entail converting to
Catholicism. Later in life, after marrying, having three children and
becoming widowed, he returns to his island for a last time. The book ends
with a hint about a sequel that would detail his return to the island, which
had been discovered.
[edit] Reception and sequels
The book was first published on April 25, 1719. The positive reception was
immediate and universal. Before the end of the year, this first volume had
run through four editions. Within years, it had reached an audience as wide
as any book ever written in English.
By the end of the 19th century, no book in the history of Western literature
had spawned more editions, spin-offs, and translations (even into languages
such as Inuit, Coptic, and Maltese) than Robinson Crusoe, with more than 700
such alternative versions, including children's versions with mainly
pictures and no text.[1] There have been hundreds of adaptations in dozens
of languages, from The Swiss Family Robinson to Luis Buñuel's film
adaptation. J.M. Coetzee's 1986 novel, Foe, is a reimagining, retelling, and
reevaluation of the story. The term "Robinsonade" has even been coined to
describe the various spin-offs of Robinson Crusoe.
Defoe went on to write a lesser-known sequel, The Further Adventures of
Robinson Crusoe. It was intended to be the last part of his stories,
according to the original title-page of its first edition, but in fact a
third part, entitled Serious Reflections of Robinson Crusoe, was written; it
is a mostly forgotten series of moral essays with Crusoe's name attached to
give interest.
[edit] Real-life castaways
There were many stories of real-life castaways in Defoe's time. Defoe's
inspiration for Crusoe was probably a Scottish sailor named Alexander
Selkirk, who was rescued in 1709 by Woodes Rogers' expedition after four
years on the uninhabited island of Juan Fernández off the Chilean coast.
Rogers's "Cruising Voyage" was published in 1712, with an account of
Alexander Selkirk's ordeal. However, Robinson Crusoe is far from a copy of
Woodes Roger's account. Selkirk was abandoned at his own request, while
Crusoe was shipwrecked. The islands are different. Selkirk lived alone for
the whole time, while Crusoe found companions. Furthermore, much of the
appeal of Defoe's novel is the detailed and captivating account of Crusoe's
thoughts, occupations and activities which goes far beyond that of Rogers'
basic descriptions of Selkirk, which account for only a few pages.
Other real-life castaways were reduced to an extremely primitive condition,
or lost the use of speech, in a space of a few years. One report describes a
Frenchman who, after two years of solitude on Mauritius, tore his clothing
to pieces in a fit of madness brought on by a diet of nothing but raw
turtles.[citation needed] Another story tells of a Dutch seaman who was left
alone on the island of Saint Helena as punishment. He fell into such despair
that he disinterred the body of a buried comrade and he set out to sea in
the coffin (Mandelslo, 1662: 246). Another castaway, the Spaniard Pedro
Serrano, was rescued after seven years of solitude in the 1520s, according
to Rycaut and Secord.[citation needed] In 1722/1723 one Philip Ashton from
New England stayed sixteen months utterly alone on Roatan Island before he
was rescued; later the castaway wrote a book about his adventures. There is
also an intriguing story of a Dutch ship's officer, Leendert Hasenbosch, who
was set ashore on uninhabited Ascension Island on 5 May 1725 as a punishment
for sodomy. Hasenbosch probably died of thirst (or suicide) after about half
a year. Hasenbosch wrote a diary that was found by British mariners in
January 1726.
[edit] Interpretations
Despite its simple narrative style and the absence of the supposedly
indispensable love motive, it was well received in the literary world. The
book is considered one of the most widely published books in history (behind
some of the religious texts). It has been a hit since the day it was
published, into modern times.
Novelist James Joyce eloquently noted that the true symbol of the British
conquest is Robinson Crusoe: "He is the true prototype of the British
colonist… The whole Anglo-Saxon spirit is in Crusoe: the manly independence,
the unconscious cruelty, the persistence, the slow yet efficient
intelligence, the sexual apathy, the calculating taciturnity".
According to J.P. Hunter, Robinson is not a hero, but an everyman. He begins
as a wanderer, aimless on a sea he does not understand; he ends as a
pilgrim, crossing a final mountain to enter the promised land. The book
tells the story of how Robinson gets closer to God, not through listening to
sermons in a church but through spending time alone amongst nature with only
a Bible to read. This view was not welcomed by the established Anglican
church of the time, which thought the message in the book was anarchic and
close to heresy. Defoe's views are reflected in those of Christian
anarchism.
Robinson Crusoe is filled with religious aspects. Defoe was himself a
Puritan moralist, and normally worked in the guide tradition, writing books
on how to be a good Puritan Christian, such as The New Family Instructor
(1727) and Religious Courtship (1722). While Robinson Crusoe is far more
than a guide, it shares many of the same themes and theological and moral
points of view. The very name "Crusoe" may have been taken from Timothy
Cruso, a classmate of Defoe's who had written guide books himself, including
God the Guide of Youth (1695), before dying at an early age — just eight
years before Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe. Cruso would still have been
remembered by contemporaries and the association with guide books is clear.
It has even been suggested that God the Guide of Youth inspired Robinson
Crusoe because of a number of passages in that work that are closely tied to
the novel; however this is speculative.[2]
[edit] Cultural influences
The book proved so popular that the names of the two main protagonists have
entered the language. The term "Robinson Crusoe" is virtually synonymous
with the word "castaway" and is often used as a metaphor for being or doing
something alone. Robinson Crusoe usually referred to his servant as "my man
Friday", from which the term "Man Friday" (or "Girl Friday") originated,
referring to a personal assistant, servant, or companion.
In Jean-Jacques Rousseau's treatise on education, Emile: Or, On Education,
the one book the main character, Emile, is allowed to read before the age of
twelve is Robinson Crusoe. Rousseau wants Emile to identify himself as
Crusoe, required to rely upon himself for all of his needs. In Rousseau's
view, Emile needs to imitate Crusoe's experience, allowing necessity to
determine what is to be learned and accomplished. This is one of the main
themes of Rousseau's educational model.
Nobel Prize-winning (2003) author J. M. Coetzee in 1986 published a novel
entitled Foe, in which he explores an alternative telling of the Crusoe
story, an allegorical story about racism, philosophy, and colonialism.
Jacques Offenbach wrote an opéra comique called Robinson Crusoé which was
first performed at the Opéra-Comique, Salle Favart on 23 November 1867. This
was based on the British pantomime version rather than the novel itself. The
libretto was by Eugène Cormon and Hector-Jonathan Crémieux. The opera
includes a duet by Robinson Crusoe and Friday.
The closing theme song of the popular American sitcom Gilligan's Island
includes the line: "Like Robinson Crusoe, it's primitive as can be."
However, the singer pronounces the name "Caruso," as in the name of the
noted tenor Enrico Caruso, reflecting a common mispronunciation.
[edit] See also
* castaway
* Robinsonade
* The Swiss Family Robinson
* Robinson Crusoe on Mars
* Robinson list
[edit] Notes
1. ^ Ian Watt. "Robinson Crusoe as a Myth", from Essays in Criticism
(April 1951). Reprinted in the Norton Critical Edition (second edition,
1994) of Robinson Crusoe.
2. ^ Hunter, J. Paul (1966) The Reluctant Pilgrim. As found in Norton
Critical Edition (see References).
[edit] References
* Shinagel, Michael, ed. (1994). Robinson Crusoe. Norton Critical
Edition. ISBN 0-393-96452-3. Includes textual annotations, contemporary and
modern criticisms, bibliography.
[edit] External links
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Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Robinson Crusoe
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* Robinson Crusoe <http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/521> , available
freely at Project Gutenberg
* Robinson Crusoe (London: W. Taylor, 1719).
<http://www.pierre-marteau.com/editions/1719-robinson-crusoe.html> ,
commented text of the first edition, free at Editions Marteau
<http://www.pierre-marteau.com/html/editions.html> .
* Free eBook of Robinson Crusoe
<http://rss.duchs.com/defoe/robinson-crusoe/> RSS version.
* Free eBook of Robinson Crusoe <http://wyeth.artpassions.net/> with
illustrations by N. C. Wyeth
* Free audiobook of Robinson Crusoe
<http://librivox.org/robinson-crusoe-by-daniel-defoe/> from Librivox
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* Robinson Crusoe
<http://manybooks.net/titles/godolphietext04rbcos10.html> , told in words of
one syllable, by Lucy Aikin (aka "Mary Godolphin") (1723-1764).
*
http://www.digbib.org/Daniel_Defoe_1661/The_Further_Adventures_Of_Robinson_C
rusoe The text of volume II.
* Chasing Crusoe <http://www.rcrusoe.org> , multimedia documentary
explores the novel and real life history of Selkirk.
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