Robinson Crusoe is one of the most famous literary characters in history, and his story has spawned hundreds of retellings. Inspired by the life of Alexander Selkirk, a sailor who lived for several years on a Pacific island, the novel tells the story of Crusoe's survival after shipwreck on an island, interaction with the mainland's native inhabitants, and eventual rescue. Read variously as economic fable, religious allegory, or imperialist fantasy, Crusoe has never lost its appeal as one of the most compelling adventure stories of all time. In addition to an introduction and helpful notes, this Broadview Edition includes a wide range of appendices that situate Defoe's 1719 novel amidst castaway narratives, economic treatises, reports of cannibalism, explorations of solitude, and Defoe's own writings on slavery and the African trade. A final appendix presents images of Crusoe's rescue of Friday from a dozen of the most significant illustrated editions of the novel published between 1719 and 1920.
Robinson Crusoe is one of the most famous literary characters in history, and his story has spawned hundreds of retellings. Inspired by the life of Alexander Selkirk, a sailor who lived for several years on a Pacific island, the novel tells the story of Crusoe's survival after shipwreck on an island, interaction with the mainland's native inhabitants, and eventual rescue. Read variously as economic fable, religious allegory, or imperialist fantasy, Crusoe has never lost its appeal as one of the most compelling adventure stories of all time. In addition to an introduction and helpful notes, this Broadview Edition includes a wide range of appendices that situate Defoe's 1719 novel amidst castaway narratives, economic treatises, reports of cannibalism, explorations of solitude, and Defoe's own writings on slavery and the African trade. A final appendix presents images of Crusoe's rescue of Friday from a dozen of the most significant illustrated editions of the novel published between 1719 and 1920.
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Daniel Defoe: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text
The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
Appendix A: Daniel Defoe, Preface and Publisher’sIntroduction to Serious Reflections during the Life andSurprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1720)
Appendix B: From Charles Gildon, The Life and StrangeSurprising Adventures of Mr. D—— De F—— (1719)
Appendix C: Castaway Narratives
Appendix D: Explorations of Solitude
Appendix E: Economic Contexts
Appendix F: Defoe on Slavery and the African Trade
Appendix G: Cannibalism
Appendix H: Illustrations of Friday’s Rescue
Select Bibliography
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) was a British novelist
and journalist.
Evan R. Davis is Elliott Associate Professor of
English at Hampden-Sydney College, Hampden-Sydney, Virginia.
"Evan Davis has done an excellent job of bringing together many of the strands of thought that Defoe put into The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe--his interests in travel, economics, religion, and the experience of solitude--and putting them into an attractive format." -- Maximillian E. Novak, University of California at Los Angeles
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