Post #154773 by freddiefreelance on Mon, Apr 25, 2005 8:54 AM

First published on the 25th of April, 1719, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is sometimes regarded as the first true novel in English. Its full title is The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner: who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pirates. Written by Himself.

The public's reception of this first novel was immediate and universal: Before the end of the year, this first volume had run through four editions. Within a matter of decades, it had reached an audience as wide as any book ever written in English. It had become part of the literary consciousness of European civilization. It is the most widely read book after the Bible (although the Guinness Book of World Records claims the same rank).

Since Defoe usually capitalized on current news events, it is likely that his real-life inspiration for Crusoe was a Scottish sailor named Alexander Selkirk, who was rescued in 1709 by Woodes Rogers' expedition after four years on the uninhabited island of Juan Fernández off the Chilean coast. Rogers's "Cruising Voyage" was published in 1712, with an account of Alexander Selkirk's ordeal. Robinson Crusoe is far from plagiarism of Roger's account, however. Selkirk was abandoned at his own request, while Crusoe was shipwrecked. The islands are different. Selkirk lived alone for the whole time while Crusoe found a companion. Furthermore, much of the appeal of Defoe's novel is the detailed and captivating account of Crusoe's thoughts, occupations and activities which goes far beyond that of Rogers' description of Selkirk. It's also possible that Defoe took some inspiration from Aphra Behn's Oroonoko, another story that's been put forward as the first true novel in English.

Warning! Spoilers!
From Project Gutenburg:

Crusoe leaves England on a sea voyage in 1652 against the wishes of his parents. The ship is taken over by Salè pirates and Crusoe becomes slave of a moor. He manages to escape with a boat and is taken in by a Portuguese ship off the western coast of Africa. The ship is on route to Brazil. There, Crusoe becomes owner of a plantation.

He joins an expedition to bring over slaves from Africa, but he is shipwrecked on an island (which later turns out to be near the mouth of what is now known as the Orinoco river). His companions all die; he manages to fetch arms, tools and other supplies from the ship. He proceeds to build himself a fenced-in habitation, keeps a calendar by making marks in a piece of wood, hunts, grows corn, learns how to make pottery, raises goats etc. He reads the Bible and slowly becomes religious, thanking God for his fate in which nothing is missing but society.

He finds out that native cannibals occasionally visit the island to kill and eat prisoners. At first he plans to kill the savages for their abomination, but then he realizes that he has no right to do so as the cannibals have not attacked him and do not knowingly commit a crime. He dreams of getting himself one or two servants by freeing some prisoners, and indeed, when a prisoner manages to escape, Crusoe helps him and the two become friends. Crusoe names his new companion "Friday" after the day of the week he appeared, and he teaches him English and turns him into a Christian.

Then one day an English ship appears; it turns out that a mutiny had broken out on the ship and the mutineers intend to maroon their captain on the island. The captain and Crusoe manage to retake the ship and travel home. Crusoe had spent 28 years on the island. After returning to Europe with Friday in 1686, he finds that his plantation was well cared for and he becomes rich. From Portugal he travels to England via Spain and France; in a mountainous region in winter, he and his companions have to fend off an attack of vicious wolves. Back in England, he decides to sell his plantation, as returning to Brazil would entail converting to Catholicism.

Other Historical Highlights for today:

• 1214 - St. Louis IX of France, is Born. He's the St. Louis that the city in Missouri is named after, as well as most of the subsequent kings of France. He was famous for his piety, kindness & support of the arts. He twice went on Crusade to free Jerusalem & the Holy Land, landing once in Egypt (where he was captured & forced to leave) and the second time in Tunesia (where he died of plague). (d. 1270)
• 1599 - Oliver Cromwell, statesman, is Born (d. 1658)
• 1744 - Anders Celsius, astronomer, inventor of the Celsius Temprature scale, died (b. 1701)
• 1792 - "La Marseillaise" (French national anthem) is composed.
• 1859 - Ground is broken for the Suez Canal.
• 1874 - Guglielmo Marconi, inventor, recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1909, is Born (d. 1937)
• 1917 - Ella Fitzgerald, jazz singer, is Born (d. 1996)
• 1924 - Albert King, Blues musician, is Born (d. 1992)
• 1932 - Meadlowlark Lemon, basketball star, member of the Harlem Globetrotters
• 1933 - Jerry Leiber, Jazz, Blues, R&B, Pop & Rock composer, is Born
• 1940 - Al Pacino, actor, is Born
• 1945 - Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish singer, songwriter, ABBA member, is Born
• 1953 - Francis Crick and James D. Watson publish Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid describing the double helix structure of DNA.
• 1964 - Hank Azaria, actor, voice actor, is Born. He's most famous for his vocal characterizations on the Simpsons, including Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Moe Szyslak, Police Chief Clancy Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, Cletus and Professor Frink.
• 1983 - Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto's orbit.
• 1990 - Dexter Gordon, jazz musician, died (b. 1923)
• 1995 - Ginger Rogers, actress, dancer, died. She did everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards & in high heels. (b. 1911)

Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Freelance, Ph.D., D.F.S

[ Edited by: freddiefreelance on 2005-04-25 08:55 ]