Robinson Crusoe

by Daniel Defoe

Who has not dreamed of life on an exotic isle, far away from civilization? Here is the novel which has inspired countless imitations by lesser writers, none of which equal the power and originality of Defoe's famous book. Robinson Crusoe, set ashore on an island after a terrible storm at sea, is forced to make do with only a knife, some tobacco, and a pipe. He learns how to build a canoe, make bread, and endure endless solitude. That is, until, twenty-four years later, when he confronts another human being. First published in 1719, Robinson Crusoe has been praised by such writers as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Samuel Johnson as one of the greatest novels in the English language.

• ISBN10: 014062015X
• ISBN13: 9780140620153
• Publish Date: 13 January 1994 (first published 1 January 1920)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 7 January 2011
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Imprint: Penguin Classics
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

When Robinson Crusoe gets shipwrecked on an island, everything changes for him. Now stuck on the island of despair, Crusoe has to learn how to survive. Daniel Defoe’s classic survival novel has been the inspiration for many stories to come. Most people know the story so I won’t go into too much detail summarising the book.

Some may disagree but I found that Defoe set out to shatter the misconceptions that Europeans had towards colonialism. When Robinson Crusoe lands on the island he adopts colonialism, as it is familiar to him and the political nature he recognises. You see the progression of this social structure from when Crusoe first found himself on the island. He built his shelter, farmed the lands and hunted. Then when other people were introduced, the social order fell into place, putting himself as lord and master. Others like Friday and his father were slaves, but the Spaniard and the Englishmen were treated completely differently.

Another theme I noticed while reading Robinson Crusoe was the idea of isolation; this was portrayed in a literal sense. Stuck on the island, Crusoe had so much time on his hand he spends it contemplating society, religion, politics and the world. What was interesting to note is the fact that there was no real mention of women in the book; there were some but none played a significant role. This detail is something I spent a lot of time contemplating, it felt like with all his reflections, women never were an important part of the world. I’m not sure what Defoe meant by this but I’m sure it is something worth investigating.

I found Robinson Crusoe fascinating; I was studying it for university so I had to look at what Daniel Defoe was trying to say about colonialism. However there is something that really annoyed me about the book and that is the way the writing style kept changing. It felt like Defoe wasn’t sure how he was writing the novel, switching between diary entries and first person narrative. It didn’t feel intentional just changing whenever it suited him and that, in turn, just felt sloppy.

Robinson Crusoe isn’t a great book; I’m glad I read it but it just isn’t something I can praise. It wasn’t a problem with the themes or the style; it just focused too much on survival and missed opportunities to explore other topics. Sure, this is a classic and you have to give a book credit for staying around so long, but Robinson Crusoe just wasn’t for me.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2014/02/10/robinson-crusoe-by-daniel-defoe/

[celinenyx]

This book. I don't think I've ever disliked a classic this much. Even when I was reading Kafka, which made me feel terrible, I still had a lot of respect for the book because it blurs the line between fiction and reality to such an extend that you feel debased and uncomfortable. I don't really have any respect for Robinson Crusoe.

The main thing that puzzles me is how this book turned into the thousands of survival adaptations. How?! Robinson doesn't have to fight to survive. He has a whole damn ship on his shore with enough supplies for years. He has a dog and a parrot and cats to keep him company, some bibles to read when he's bored, enough gunpowder to last him for thirty years, enough rum and other booze for about twenty years, tobacco to smoke... The only thing he's missing is some more clothes, but who cares about those in the Caribbean anyway.

Now on to my greatest annoyance in the entire book of Robinson Crusoe, namely Robinson Crusoe. I wanted to take one of his guns and hit some sense into that guy. He is an ungrateful, rebellious, self-pitying, racist, imperialist, bigot fool that deserves every hardship he comes across. I was also very much annoyed by how he handled his religion. Basically he only remembers that he's in the hand of God when everything is well. The moment something goes wrong (he's also completely paranoid - one footprint throws him into a fit for two years) he forgets about God and Providence and everything he said to hold so dear. If it was just this personal problem, I would have been okay with it. But the moment he gets slaves (because of course he gets slaves) he has to "save their souls" and turn them into Christians. What?! He's the worst Christian ever himself, yet he feels like he has to turn everything that moves into a Christian? Ugh.

And there are slaves. They all want to be his slaves of course.

At one point near the end he mentions shipping off a few women for his men on the island. That was about the moment I knew I didn't want to read this book ever again.

A quote wonderfully describing why I couldn't stand Robinson:

My island was now peopled, and I thought myself very rich in subjects; and it was a merry reflection, which I frequently made, how like a king I looked. First of all, the whole country was my own property, so that I had an undoubted right of dominion. Secondly, my people were perfectly subjected - I was absolutely lord and lawgiver - they all owed their lives to me, and were ready to lay down their lives, if there had been occasion for it, for me. It was remarkable, too, I had but three subjects, and they were of three different religions - my man Friday was a Protestant, his father was a Pagan and a cannibal, and the Spaniard was a Papist. However, I allowed liberty of conscience throughout my dominions.

Gee Robinson, how nice of you to allow different religions in the island you yourself decided is yours, over subjects that are stuck there with a gun wielding megalomaniac Englishman.

Robinson Crusoe is probably a good example of how people thought during that particular time period - but if that's so, I don't care for that time period.

[remo]

LA novela de náufragos, así como La isla del tesoro fue LA novela de piratas. Esta novela tiene trescientos años, que muchas veces estamos acostumbrados a clásicos de los siglos XIX y XX y resulta que esto es tres veces más cercano al Quijote que a nosotros. Lamentablemente el autor no escribe con lo que hoy en día llamaríamos un estilo ágil, y la lectura (a mí por lo menos) se atora y se añusga. ¡Hay segunda parte! Y yo lo desconocía. E incuso una tercera, pero esta última son ya reflexiones/ensayos del autor, no una novela de aventuras.