Robinson Crusoe (Oxford World's Classics)
by Daniel Defoe, Thomas Keymer
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Book Summary Information
Author: Daniel Defoe, Thomas KeymerContributor: James Kelly
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-04-15
ISBN: 0199553971
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of Robinson Crusoe (Oxford World's Classics)
Book Review: Seminal, but not essential
Summary: 4 Stars
As a boy in the Fifties, one of the presents my parents gave me each birthday and Christmas was a "classic" of literature for youth (by the lights of that age) from a series called "Junior Deluxe Editions" published by Doubleday. For my eighth birthday, the volume I received was Daniel Defoe's ROBINSON CRUSOE. Evidence, I guess, that I was not a model child, I never read it until now, 53 years later. My three sons are now all well beyond their eighth birthday, so the point is moot, but had I gotten around to reading ROBINSON CRUSOE earlier, I would NOT have suggested it for their youthful reading. To me, the novel now is of interest more for its historical significance than for its contemporary literary appeal.
One of the most interesting things about ROBINSON CRUSOE is that Daniel Defoe wrote it at an age almost as advanced (59) as mine when I first read it. And it was his first novel! Indeed, according to some, it represents the first appearance in English of the novel as a literary form. Actually, judging from the Wikipedia entry on him, Daniel Defoe had nearly as unusual and adventurous a life as did Robinson Crusoe, and one book I will be on the lookout for is a decent biography of Defoe. (Suggestions are welcome.)
ROBINSON CRUSOE definitely is a product of its times (it was published in 1719), and it very much is a window on early 18th-Century England, with its expanding sea trade, its mercantilism, its burgeoning middle-class, and its stout anti-papist Christianity. One interesting angle of the novel to me is its views on cannibalism and slavery. Robinson Crusoe is horrified by the cannibalism that he witnesses, and his immediate impulse is to stop it, no matter how that might endanger him. But then he regards the matter more dispassionately and in a distinctly enlightened, even "multi-cultural" way: he reflects that the "savages" do not themselves "know it to be an offence", that they do not engage in the practice "in defiance of divine justice, as we [Englishmen] do in almost all the sins we commit." But, curiously, Crusoe never stops to reflect on the practice of slavery. Rather, for him it appears to be a perfectly natural fact of life in this world. He himself was for a time a slave on the Barbery Coast; he owned a slave as a plantation owner in Brasil; he was engaged in a slave-trade expedition when the shipwreck occurred that stranded him for 28 years; and he treated Friday much like a slave (including instructing Friday to call him "Master").
This and other aspects of the tale - as well as the periodic perfunctory homilies of obeisance to God - are odd, even repugnant, to modern sensibilities. But the core story -- a young man stranded on an edenic isle, where survival depends entirely on his own labor, intelligence, and resourcefulness - is compelling, even archetypical. (At least to men and boys. The novel is almost devoid of women, and I wonder whether females react to it in the same primeval way that most males apparently do.) And Robinson Crusoe doesn't simply survive; he becomes Lord of his Kingdom. Perhaps the most engaging parts of the novel (and those best reflecting the skills of Daniel Defoe) are those dealing with the practical details of how Crusoe goes about transforming the deserted isle into his Paradise: building, concealing, and fortifying his strongholds; laboriously making shovels, furniture, and boats; raising crops of corn; gathering and husbandry of a goat-herd; learning by trial and error a rather primitive pottery. And last but not least on the plus side of the ledger, there is Defoe's great narrative engine. Except for a few instances, the novel has remarkable pace.
I can't say that ROBINSON CRUSOE is essential reading, but it certainly is a seminal work in English literature, and inasmuch as I was born into that literary heritage I am glad I finally did read it. Still, I am not going to push it on any youth of today or tomorrow.
Summary of Robinson Crusoe (Oxford World's Classics)
Daniel Defoe's enthralling story-telling and imaginatively detailed descriptions have ensured that his fiction masquerading as fact remains one of the most famous stories in English literature. On one level a simple adventure story, the novel also raises profound questions about moral and spiritual values, society, and man's abiding acquisitiveness. This new edition includes a scintillating Introduction and notes that illuminate the historical context.About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
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