Product Description

The sole survivor of a shipwreck, Robinson Crusoe is stranded on an uninhabited island far away from any shipping routes. With patience and ingenuity, he transforms his island into a tropical paradise. For twenty-four years he has no human company, until one Friday, he rescues a prisoner from a boat of cannibals.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #854177 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Customer Reviews

A Classic because it is.
The tale of Robinson Crusoe is so engrained in our culture I found it difficult to be objective about it. All the classic ingredients are there, the journey to find one's fortune the shipwreck, the fight for survival and the conversations with God. It is easy to see why it has survived in print for so long although I found so much of the book rather dull. This particular edition has an introduction which I found to be very useful in putting the novel into context and a series of explanatory notes which I found essential for understanding the language of the time. Should you be going to buy a copy of this I think these additions make this an excellent choice.

Enlightenment Bible
Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is often hailed as the first novel written in English; it has garnered appraisal in each century it has been around; and is one of the most widely translated works of fiction behind the Bible. For a novel to be truly regarded as a ‘classic’, which Robinson Crusoe is, it must be at once timeless and yet a product of its times. Classic is defined as being: “approved as a model, standard, leading, Of literary note, historically famous. With a thorough understanding of the text and a grounding in the social, economical, philosophical and ethical issues of the Enlightenment, Robinson Crusoe can easily be seen to fit such a definition.

Defoe’s style is often disorienting and seemingly random, as often, the narrative jumps several years in as many sentences. He allows the retrospective voice of Crusoe to be both spatially and temporally free; lending his narrative voice weight, with its mastery of the material. The implied author, Crusoe, is writing this account of his adventures from after the event; it is for this reason that the novel’s tone seems divided. For the most part Crusoe is meticulously descriptive; taking pages to describe how a boat is made, or how he fails to make ink. Conversely there are theological and philosophical tracts that seem out of place in such a richly detailed account. Robinson Crusoe is presented as a factual account of Crusoe’s life; as the title page boldly pronounces.

Robinson Crusoe is more than anything a product of the time it was written in. It contains within it, just under the surface, many of the ideas that were present during the Enlightenment; and it serves as a neat allegory for the colonial spirit of 18th Century England. Ultimately it champions the idea that through a man’s own actions he can truly come to know himself and the world he lives in; and that he must not be bound by the tutelage of past generations.

Read it.

A Superb Classic
Inspired by the real life story of Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, Daniel Defoe wrote the famous classic Robinson Crusoe.

This is about a man who sets off to find his fortune, travelling on a boat with his mate. But after a series of events that take place, he is driven all over the world, only to be shipwrecked on an isolated Pacific Ocean island. With the provisions left on the ship not far from the island, he manages to create a safe abode and provide himself food. This is a story of how Robinson Crusoe Survives and the events that lead him to freedom.

This is such a cool story and there are condensed versions around so that any one can enjoy it. So suspensful and intriguing, you must, must, must read it!