3.
ROBINSON CRUSOE
The famous story of Robinson Crusoe can be divided into three parts: Robinson’s youth and the time up to his shipwreck; his twenty-eight years on an uninhabited island; his lie and adventures after being rescued from the island. Published in 1719, Defoe places his story in the 17th century in England, north Africa, Brazil, an island off the coast of Venezuela and back to Europe.
The first part of the novel relates that, against the advice of his father, Robinson wishes to pursue his livelihood by going to sea. He does so and after a false start has some success but a third voyage ends in slavery. He eventually escapes and is helped to Brazil where he becomes a successful plantation owner. He embarks on a slave gathering expedition to West Africa but is shipwrecked off the coast of Venezuela in a terrible storm.
The bulk of the novel attends to Robinson’s life on the island —how he accomplishes his survival and even establishes his "kingdom"; how he moves from a frantic state of discontent to one of resignation and contentment; how he meets Friday and, finally, how he leaves the island.
Though anticlimactic, the third part of the novel traces Robinson’s securing of wealth through the honesty and loyalty of friends, his return to England, travels through the continent and a last trip to his island to see how those he left there fared.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR :
Daniel Defoe, the son of a butcher, was born in London in 1660. He attended Morton's Academy, a school for Dissenters at Newington Green with the intention of becoming a minister, but he changed his mind and became a hosiery merchant instead. Defoe also wrote a three volume travel book, Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724-27) that provided a vivid first-hand account of the state of the country. Other non-fiction books include The Complete English Tradesman (1726) and London the Most Flourishing City in the Universe (1728). Defoe published over 560 books and pamphlets and is considered to be the founder of British journalism. Daniel Defoe died in 1731.
The famous story of Robinson Crusoe can be divided into three parts: Robinson’s youth and the time up to his shipwreck; his twenty-eight years on an uninhabited island; his lie and adventures after being rescued from the island. Published in 1719, Defoe places his story in the 17th century in England, north Africa, Brazil, an island off the coast of Venezuela and back to Europe.
The first part of the novel relates that, against the advice of his father, Robinson wishes to pursue his livelihood by going to sea. He does so and after a false start has some success but a third voyage ends in slavery. He eventually escapes and is helped to Brazil where he becomes a successful plantation owner. He embarks on a slave gathering expedition to West Africa but is shipwrecked off the coast of Venezuela in a terrible storm.
The bulk of the novel attends to Robinson’s life on the island —how he accomplishes his survival and even establishes his "kingdom"; how he moves from a frantic state of discontent to one of resignation and contentment; how he meets Friday and, finally, how he leaves the island.
Though anticlimactic, the third part of the novel traces Robinson’s securing of wealth through the honesty and loyalty of friends, his return to England, travels through the continent and a last trip to his island to see how those he left there fared.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR :
Daniel Defoe, the son of a butcher, was born in London in 1660. He attended Morton's Academy, a school for Dissenters at Newington Green with the intention of becoming a minister, but he changed his mind and became a hosiery merchant instead. Defoe also wrote a three volume travel book, Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724-27) that provided a vivid first-hand account of the state of the country. Other non-fiction books include The Complete English Tradesman (1726) and London the Most Flourishing City in the Universe (1728). Defoe published over 560 books and pamphlets and is considered to be the founder of British journalism. Daniel Defoe died in 1731.