Robinson Crusoe

ISBN-13: 9780199553976

Media Type: Paperback(Reissue)

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Publication Date: 04-15-2009

Pages: 384

Product Dimensions: 5.00(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.70(d)

Age Range: 7 - 9 Years

Series: Oxford World's Classics Series

Daniel Defoe (c.1659–1661) was an English writer best known now for his "Robinson Crusoe". The Scottish novelist and academic MARGARET ELPHINSTONE's first novel was published in 1987. Her latest, The Gathering Night, was published in 2009. She is Emeritus Professor of Scottish Literature at Strathclyde University in Glasgow. Apart from spells of academic work in the USA, she has spent most of her working life in various parts of Scotland including Shetland, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

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I was born in the Year 1632, in the City of York, of a good Family, tho not of that Country, my Father being a Foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull: He got a good Estate by Merchandise, and leaving off his Trade, lived afterward at York, from whence he had married my Mother, whose Relations were named Robinson, a very good Family in that Country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but by the usual Corruption of Words in England, we are now called, nay we call our selves, and write our Name Crusoe, and so my Companions always call’d me.
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Copyright © 2008 Daniel Defoe.
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Reading Group Guide

1. Robinson Crusoe is regarded as one of the first English novels. What were the qualities that defined the English novel? How has the meaning of the word "novel" changed? Do we use the term more loosely now or has it evolved into something entirely different?

2. Defoe's novel is also thought to be one of the earliest examples of the use of psychological realism. Defoe posits himself as "editor" and Crusoe as the author. How does his use of voice and point of view differ from that of his contemporaries? How much of his fiction might be influenced by his background in journalism and nonfiction?

3. How much of Robinson Crusoe is supposed to be "real" and journalistic and how much is intended to be allegorical? How does Defoe use Crusoe to espouse certain values? In what sense is the book a morality story?

4. Examine Crusoe's relationships with Xury and Friday. Critics have seen Robinson Crusoe as representative of British colonialism and imperialism, glorifying the subjugation of other cultures. How does Defoe seem to comment on the institution of slavery and issues of race?

5. How do Robinson Crusoe's experiences on the island comment on the society from which he has been separated?

6. How does what we now call the Protestant work ethic pervade Defoe's novel? Robinson seems to channel all of his energy into the pursuit of manual labor; the story is a series of daily routines and a tribute to work. To what end? Is his newfound work ethic accompanied by a spiritual awakening?

7. How is value established on Crusoe's island? How does the language of economics inform the text?

8. What is the nature of Robinson Crusoe's relationship with his environment? Does he regard his surroundings as hostile? Does he seek to re-create the landscape?

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Table of Contents

The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

Appendix A: Daniel Defoe, Preface and Publisher’s Introduction to Serious Reflections During the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1720)

Appendix B: From Charles Gildon, The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Mr. D—— De F— (1719)

Appendix C: Castaway Narratives

1. From Ibn Ṭufayl, The Improvement of Human Reason, Exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn Yokdhan (1708)
2. Accounts of Alexander Selkirk
1. From Woodes Rogers, A Cruising Voyage round the World (1712)
2. Richard Steele, The Englishman, no. 26 (1713)
3. From Penelope Aubin, The Strange Adventures of the Count de Vinevil and his Family (1721)
4. From Leendert Hasenbosch, An Authentick Relation of the Many Hardships and Sufferings of a Dutch Sailor (1728)

Appendix D: Explorations of Solitude

1. From Richard Baxter, “Of Conversing with God in Solitude” (1664)
2. From Mary, Lady Chudleigh, “Of Solitude” (1710)
3. From Anne Kingsmill Finch, Countess of Winchilsea, “The Petition for an Absolute Retreat” (1713)
4. From Daniel Defoe, “Of Solitude” (1720)
5. Alexander Pope, “Ode on Solitude” (1717)
6. From Edmund Burke, “Society and Solitude” (1757)
7. From Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emilius and Sophia (1762)
8. William Cowper, “Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk” (1782)
9. Charlotte Smith, Sonnet XLIV, “Written in the Church-yard at Middleton in Sussex” (1789)
10. From Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere” (1798)
11. William Wordsworth, “Nutting” (1800)
12. William Cowper, “The Castaway” (1803)

Appendix E: Economic Contexts

1. From John Locke, “Of Property,” Two Treatises on Government (1698)
2. From Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776)
3. From Karl Marx, Capital (1867)
4. From Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1920–21)

Appendix F: Defoe on Slavery and the African Trade

1. From Reformation of Manners, A Satyr (1702)
2. From An Essay upon the Trade to Africa (1711)
3. From A Review of the State of the British Nation (1711, 1712)
4. From The History and Remarkable Life of the Truly Honourable Col. Jacque, Commonly call’d Col. Jack (1722)
5. From A Plan of the English Commerce (1728)

Appendix G: Cannibalism

1. From Michel de Montaigne, “Of Cannibals” (tr. 1685–86)
2. From Charles de Rochefort, The History of the Caribby-Islands (tr. 1666)
3. From William Dampier, “Of the Reports about Cannibals” (1703)
4. From Daniel Defoe, Serious Reflections During the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1720)

Appendix H: Illustrations of Friday’s Rescue

1. Anonymous (1720)
2. Anonymous (1722)
3. Clément Pierre Marillier (1787)
4. Charles Ansell (1790)
5. Thomas Stothard (1790)
6. George Cruikshank (1831)
7. J.J. Grandville (1840)
8. Phiz (Hablot Knight Browne) (1846)
9. Jules Fesquet (1877)
10. Otis Turner (1913)

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