About this title: Daniel Defoe was nearly 60 years old when he published ROBINSON CRUSOE, his first novel, in 1719. The story of an English mariner, sole survivor of a shipwreck, who manages to survive for 28 years on a deserted island in the South Pacific, ROBINSON CRUSOE is a stirring depiction of loneliness and isolation as Crusoe builds a house, teaches himself to grow corn and barley, and bakes bread. The book was based on the true tale of a sailor named Alexander Selkirk, but Defoe inserts his own preoccupations into the story. Long fascinated by travel, questions of identity, and the minutiae of daily ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780140430073ISBN:0140430075
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Cover has minor wear, spine is creased, pages are clean and unmarked. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 320 p. Penguin English Library. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics, London
Date published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780140430073ISBN:0140430075
Description: Good. Some highlighting, underlining, and notes. 319 p. Introduction by Angus Ross. Also includes Appendix: Alexander Selkirk, Select Further Reading. read more
Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date published: 1966
ISBN-13:9780140430073ISBN:0140430075
Description: Good. 0140430075 Paperback. Binding in excellent condition. Cover/Title in good condition. Pages are tanned due to aging. Thanks for your business! read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date published: 1966
ISBN-13:9780140430073ISBN:0140430075
Description: Good. Only lightly used. Book has minimal wear to cover and binding. A few pages may have small creases and minimal underlining. Book selection as BIG as Texas. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date published: 1966
ISBN-13:9780140430073ISBN:0140430075
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. bright, clean copy, minimal wear. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 320 p. Penguin English Library. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Classics 1998
Date published: 1966
ISBN-13:9780140430073ISBN:0140430075
Description: A good reading copy only. May have underlining or highlighting throughout and writing in the margins. -, Trade PaperBack, Good / read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date published: 1966
ISBN-13:9780140430073ISBN:0140430075
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date published: 1966
ISBN-13:9780140430073ISBN:0140430075
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
"I am a longtime big fan of Lynd Ward, illustrator of many children's novels and author of great wordless stories told in woodcuts ('Gods' Man,' 'The Silver Pony') that were 'graphic novels' before that category had been named. So when I found this 1946 Illustrated Junior Library edition of 'Robinson Crusoe' with Ward's pictures, I was thrilled (especially since it cost one dollar!).
As expected, Ward's illustrations are superb, but I was surprised at how easy it was to read Defoe's story, published in 1719, yet still vibrant and accessible. There were also surprises in the plot. Friday doesn't appear until three quarters of the way through the book. Although Crusoe is fond of this 'native,' his primary value is as a servant. Indeed, Crusoe ends up stranded on his island somewhere in the Caribbean when a slaving expedition from Brazil to Africa goes awry.
A hidden (and timeless) theme lies underneath the rather straightlaced Puritanistic moralizing indulged in by Defoe in the first-person voice of his main character. Although Crusoe views his situation as punishment for the wages of sin, he can't quite keep his pride in his own self-sufficiency in check. He makes 'merry reflection' in 'how like a king I looked,' with his own country where he has 'undoubted right of dominion.'
In one sense, as he tells us over and over again, Crusoe has turned his profligate back on the goodness and love of his father, and suffers because of that. At the same time, as one of Ward's illustrations makes clear, that goodness and love can feel controlling and claustrophobic, and Crusoe feels great satisfaction when he escapes to become his own man.
"I assigned this to myself since it is the (debatable) first novel written in the English language. One must appreciate it for that fact alone. Seriously, everyone should give it up for Defoe basically aiding in the invention of a genre.
Additionally, it is more than just an adventurous romp. The rise of the novel coincides with the rise of individualism, capitalism and industrialization. Robinson Crusoe can be read as an allegory (or microcosm) for this (colonist man alone, left to produce and enslave).
Nevertheless, in this day and age, it is difficult to take the plotline seriously. Defoe apparently wrote more than 500 books, pamphlets and journals. And it shows. Perhaps the author was a bit too prolific and should have put a little more care into individual manuscripts. If I remember correctly at one point Crusoe strips naked to swim out to his ship, which was marooned near the island. When he arrives he stuffs a variety of things into his pockets...?
I understand that editors were few and far between in the 18th century, but still.
As a side note, the story is based on the less fictional tale of Alexander Selkirk who was marooned on an uninhabited island in the early 18th century. Interestingly, he had a big problem with rats attacking him at night, and thus domesticated a number of feral cats brought over from earlier sailors. One can only imagine how much of a crazy cat-man he was by the time he was rescued five years later."
"Most people are familiar with the basic premise of this book, but there is so much more to it than simply a man's struggle to survive on an island after a shipwreck. Defoe gives us a touching and resonating view on the repentance process and the ability of a man to reshape his attitude and outlook on life. We see a man who is haughty, carefree, and worldly taken to the absolute depths of humility.
Here is my favorite passage, from chapter 2, which illustrates the way many human beings view the prospect of repentance:
"As to going home, shame opposed the best motions that offered to my thoughts, and it immediately occurred to me how I should be laughed at among the neighbours, and should be ashamed to see, not my father and mother only, but even everybody else; from whence I have since often observed, how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth, to that reason which ought to guide them in such cases - viz. that they are not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; not ashamed of the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of the returning, which only can make them be esteemed wise men.""
"When I was little, Robinson Crusoe was considered a children's classic, and it showed up in book sets that also contained Heidi, Black Beauty, and Five Little Peppers. So why couldn't I understand it? Duh, it was written in the early 1700's, and the language isn't kid-friendly. I think parents used to paraphrase it for their kids, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think many kids ever read it by themselves. But what a story for grown-ups! You have to skip over the slow parts, but when it moves, the action is terrific. And by the way, why don't we ever hear Robinson Crusoe's conversion story? Why doesn't it show up in Relief Society manuals? Think "Alma the Younger," with a dark demon appearing instead of an angel. Well, it did the trick. He started to pray and read the Bible; he repented and accepted Christ; and his entire life changed. What a great story for the Ensign! Or a conference talk! Or a family home evening! Why hasn't anybody picked up on this?"
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