Daniel Defoe
Background of the Author
• Daniel Defoe has been called the father of
journalism. To many of his contemporaries, he
was a man who sold his pen to the political party
in office and so lacking integrity.
• He was a Puritan, the son of a butcher, and a
suspected government spy (this suspicion was
confirmed in the nineteenth century). Defoe was
not a gentleman born or raised though he aspired
to be one and changed his name from Foe to
Defoe and bought a coach.
• Defoe received widespread and consistent
serious critical attention in the twentieth
century, and his works have been subjected to
modern interpretations, e.g., Marxist,
psychoanalytic, feminist, and poststructuralist.
Success of Robinson Crusoe
• With six printings in four months, Robinson
Crusoe was a popular and financial success in
1719.
• Because of Robinson Crusoe's success and of its
universal appeal, the novel continued to be
published for over two centuries.
• It has been packaged as a picture book with little
or no text; this degradation was consistent with a
tendency to view it as a children's book, a fate it
shared with Gulliver's Travels.
The Impact of Robinson Crusoe
• Robinson Crusoe has made a profound
impression on readers as well as on whole
cultures.
• Samuel Johnson, a demanding critic, gave it
the highest praise, "Was there ever yet any
thing written by mere man that was wished
longer by its readers, excepting Don Quixote,
Robinson Crusoe, and the Pilgrim's Progress?"
(1776).
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau regarded it as "the one
book that teaches all that books can teach.
• According to John Robert Moore, Crusoe
created not only a new literary form (the
novel), but also a new reading public.
THE APPEAL OF ROBINSON CRUSOE
• The thrill of adventure lures us into identifying
with Crusoe and his triumph over mishaps,
particularly since the specific details of Defoe's
portrayal make his experiences real for us.
• English readers often see Crusoe as the typical
Englishman–manly, self-reliant, courageous,
heroic, and resourceful.
• This narrow chauvinistic response excludes all
non-English readers, yet Crusoe transcends
national, religious, and cultural boundaries.
• Coleridge saw Crusoe in universal terms, as "a
representative of humanity in general; neither his
intellectual nor his moral qualities set him above
the middle degree of mankind...." He is "the
universal representative, the person for whom
every reader could substitute himself.
• Industrialization has cut off modern men from
simple tasks; we no longer know the whole
process of basic activities, like growing wheat,
milling flour, and baking bread. This was true in
Defoe's time also. So the details of Crusoe's
everyday life fascinate us, as we watch him
recreate civilization alone.
• Walter Allen sees in Crusoe the dramatization
of "the inescapable solitariness of each man in
his relation to God and the universe.“
• In writing Crusoe, Defoe created a character
who speaks to something deep in the human
psyche and essential to the human condition.
ROBINSON CRUSOE: MYTH AND
ARCHETYPE
• Crusoe can be assimilated into diverse
cultures, that the meanings assigned him
change to reflect changes in a society, that he
can be given conflicting meanings, and that he
reaches into the private souls of individuals. It
is these qualities that make Crusoe a mythic or
an archetypal figure.
Definitions of Myth and Archetype
• myth:
Myth originates in the effort of primitive
people to explain some practice, belief,
institution, or natural happening. Myths are
anonymous and accepted as true. "Broadly
speaking myths and mythologies seek to
rationalize and explain the universe and all that is
in it. Thus, they have a similar function to science,
theology, religion and history in modern
societies" (Bernard Doyle, Encyclopedia Mythica).
• archetype:
(1) An archetype is the prototype who sets the pattern for
similar beings, for example, Frankenstein (monster) or Hercules
(hero).
•
(2) A basic concept in Jungian psychology, the archetype is a
pattern of thought or an image which is passed down from one
generation to the other, a process which Jung called the "psychic
residua of numberless experiences of the same type." The
collective unconscious thus holds the same images as humanity's
primitive ancestors, like the good mother, the wise man, the
magician, the vampire, and the monster
•
Archetypes appear in myths, religion, literature, art, and fairy
tales of most societies. Common archetypes are the death-rebirth
motif, going to the sea, the fatal woman, Cinderella-stories, and the
sacrificial hero or god.
• DEFOE SYLLABUS
• Day 1 Introduction Day 2 Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, pp.
xv-67
Overview of Daniel Defoe
Overview of Robinson Crusoe
The Sources of Robinson Crusoe
Alexander Selkirk Day 3 (W, Sept. 11) Defoe,
Robinson Crusoe, pp. 68-121
Puritanism
Increase Mather, Remarkable Providences
Day 4 (T, Sept. 17) Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, pp. 122-188
• Day 5 (W, Sept. 18) Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, pp. 189261
Religion in Robinson Crusoe
Web paper due (1-2 pages)
• Day 6 (M, Sept. 23) Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, pp. 262-29
Robinson Crusoe as Economic Man