Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe 1719 Daniel Defoe 1650
Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe 1719
Daniel Defoe - 1650 -1731
Ø Introduction: The Text Ø Robinson Crusoe by the British writer, Daniel Defoe (1660 -1731) is a novel first published on 25 April 1719. Ø The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a travelogue of true incidents. Ø The novel is characteristic of the genres of the XVIII century Europe, epistolary, confessions and didactic.
Ø Introduction: The Text Ø The form, the book is presented as an autobiography of the title character (whose birth name is Robinson—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical desert island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers, before ultimately being rescued. Ø The story has been thought to be based on the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived for four years on a Pacific island called "Más a Tierra", now part of Chile, which was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966.
Ø Introduction: The Text Ø By the end of the XIX century it had more than seven hundred editions, translations and imitations. Ø It has gone on to become one of the most widely published books in history, spawning so many imitations, not only in literature but also in film, television and radio, that its name is used to define a genre, the Robinsonade. (People like Crusoe and his adventures).
Ø Introduction: The Text Ø Despite its simple narrative style, Robinson Crusoe was well received in the literary world and is often credited as marking the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre. Ø It is generally seen as a contender for the first English Novel.
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø Crusoe (the family name corrupted from the German name “Kreutznaer”) set sail from Kingston upon Hull on a sea voyage in August 1651, against the wishes of his parents, who wanted him to pursue a career in law. Ø After a tumultuous journey where his ship is wrecked in a storm, his lust for the sea remains so strong that he sets out to sea again.
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø This journey, too, ends in disaster, as the ship is taken over by Salé pirates, and Crusoe is enslaved by a Moor. Ø [the Salé Rovers, also Sale Rovers or Salle Rovers, were a dreaded band of Barbary corsairs in the 17 th century. They formed the Republic of Salé on the Maroccan coast. The most famous of the rovers was Janszoon, a Dutchman who had been a pirate for Holland in the Mediterranean. He "turned Turk" after being captured by one of the Moorish states in 1618 and became known as Admiral Murat Reis]
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø Two years later, he escapes in a boat with a boy named Xury; a captain of a Portuguese ship off the west coast of Africa rescues him. Ø The ship is on his way to Brazil. Crusoe sells Xury to the captain. With the captain's help, Crusoe procures a plantation.
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø Years later, Crusoe joins an expedition to bring slaves from Africa, but he is shipwrecked in a storm about forty miles out to sea on an island (which he calls the Island of Despair) near the mouth of the Orinoco river on 30 September 1659. (Venuzuela 70% and 30% Colombia 4 th largest river in the world). Ø He observes the latitude as 9 degrees and 22 minutes north. He sees penguins and seals on his island. (? ? ? )
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø As for his arrival there, only he and three animals, the captain's dog and two cats, survive the shipwreck. Ø Overcoming his despair, he fetches arms, tools and other supplies from the ship before it breaks apart and sinks. Ø He builds a fenced-in habitat near a cave which he excavates. Ø By making marks in a wooden cross, he creates a calendar.
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø By making marks in a wooden cross, he creates a calendar. Ø By using tools salvaged from the ship, and some which he makes himself, from “ironwood”, he hunts, grows barley (cevada) and rice, dries grapes to make raisins, learns to make pottery and raises goats. (? ) Ø He also adopts a small parrot. He reads the Bible and becomes religious, thanking God for his fate in which nothing is missing but human society.
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø More years pass and Crusoe discovers native cannibals, who occasionally visit the island to kill and eat prisoners. Ø (A favorite topic manufacture by Europeans since the Spanish and Portuguese conquest in the late 14 and early 15 centuries). Ø At first he plans to kill them for committing an abomination but later realizes he has no right to do so, as the cannibals do not knowingly commit a crime.
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø He dreams of obtaining one or two servants by freeing some prisoners; Ø When a prisoner escapes, Crusoe helps him, naming his new companion “Friday” after the day of the week he appeared. Ø Crusoe then teaches him English and converts him to Christianity.
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø After more natives arrive to partake in a cannibal feast, Crusoe and Friday kill most of the natives and save two prisoners.
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø One is Friday’s father and the other is a Spaniard, who informs Crusoe about other Spaniards shipwrecked on the mainland. Ø A plan is devised wherein the Spaniard would return to the mainland with Friday's father and bring back the others, build a ship, and sail to a Spanish port.
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø Before the Spaniards return, an English ship appears; mutineers have commandeered the vessel and intend to abandon (marron) their captain on the island. Ø Crusoe and the ship's captain strike a deal in which Crusoe helps the captain and the loyal sailors retake the ship and leave the worst mutineers on the island.
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø Before embarking for England, Crusoe shows the mutineers how he survived on the island states that there will be more men coming. Ø Crusoe leaves the island 19 December 1686 and arrives in England on 11 June 1687. Ø He learns that his family believed him dead; as a result, he was left nothing in his father’s will.
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø Crusoe departs for Lisbon to reclaim the profits of his estate in Brazil, which has granted him much wealth. Ø In conclusion, he transports his wealth overland to England from Portugal to avoid travelling by sea. Ø Friday accompanies him and, in their way, they endure one last adventure together as they fight off famished wolves while crossing the Pyrenees. (Chain of mountains between Spain and France)
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø The Ideology of the text Ø While it was a commercial success among middle-class and aristocratic readers of the 18 th century, Defoe’s narrative deeply reflects its European context of imperialism and colonialism in which white Europeans enslaved, subjugated, and oppressed and colonized people in Africa and the Americas.
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø The Ideology of the text Ø Not only does Crusoe establish himself as the “king” of the island he becomes trapped upon, he treats the various natives he encounters as if they were servants or slaves to sell and exploit as he sees fit. Ø In fact, Crusoe is on an expedition to acquire slaves for his Brazilian plantation when he is marooned in the first place, as we mentioned before.
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø The Ideology of the text Ø While Robinson Crusoe’s importance in the history of the novel is revelant, the somewhat unstructured narration and dubious morality of the main character have caused some to criticize its place in the modern literary canon. Ø In fact, Robinson Crusoe is nothing more than a propaganda text to exhibit the superiority of European civilization, know how, progress, and its religion.
Ø Crusoe: The Story Ø The Ideology of the text Ø The text’s objective is to appease the European consciousness face to the brutality, carnage and pillage taking place in the British Empire around the world, particularly, at that time, in Africa, and the Americas. Ø END
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