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A review by sowalsky
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
5.0
Ironically, I was led to this novel after having read Jules Verne's "The Mysterious Island," which is not among the many works cited by the editor of this edition in discussing the vast influence of Defoe's work on later writers. Like many classics, this novel (which is cited as the first major novel in English) is well-known, but little-read. I, thus, welcomed the opportunity to balance reputation, summarization, and bastardization with a close examination of the original work which inspired it all. I was not disappointed, either, although "Robinson Crusoe" leaves the modern reader with a plethora of questions, particularly regarding Defoe's intent.
On the one hand, Crusoe's tribulations become a crucible in which his faith is first focused, and then tested. On the other hand, while the ultimate power of providence is acknowledged repeatedly in a series of philosophical musings, Crusoe lives by the creed that God helps those who help themselves. This spirit, additionally imbued with the sensibilities of the Age of Enlightenment and the nascent Industrial Revolution, produces a well-rounded portrait of that school of thought which would lead, in its extreme, during the following century, to all the grotesque excesses of Manifest Destiny.
Defoe as storyteller is adept enough, but he reveals himself and, thus, his era, in any number of ways. Crusoe, for example, is uninterested in asking Friday his name; he simply assigns the name of Friday to him. Similarly, he never refers to any of the ancillary characters by name, even when their actions have been pivotal to his own preservation. Both the animate and the inanimate, the intelligent and the brute have equal utility to Crusoe, and utility is the only value he recognizes. It is thus that, by today's measure, Crusoe seems to fall considerably short of heroic, although when read within its historical perspective, his character becomes more enlightening (if not enlightened) to the reader.
On the one hand, Crusoe's tribulations become a crucible in which his faith is first focused, and then tested. On the other hand, while the ultimate power of providence is acknowledged repeatedly in a series of philosophical musings, Crusoe lives by the creed that God helps those who help themselves. This spirit, additionally imbued with the sensibilities of the Age of Enlightenment and the nascent Industrial Revolution, produces a well-rounded portrait of that school of thought which would lead, in its extreme, during the following century, to all the grotesque excesses of Manifest Destiny.
Defoe as storyteller is adept enough, but he reveals himself and, thus, his era, in any number of ways. Crusoe, for example, is uninterested in asking Friday his name; he simply assigns the name of Friday to him. Similarly, he never refers to any of the ancillary characters by name, even when their actions have been pivotal to his own preservation. Both the animate and the inanimate, the intelligent and the brute have equal utility to Crusoe, and utility is the only value he recognizes. It is thus that, by today's measure, Crusoe seems to fall considerably short of heroic, although when read within its historical perspective, his character becomes more enlightening (if not enlightened) to the reader.