Robinson Crusoe Modernized Edition

Robinson Crusoe is one of the most famous literary characters in history, and his story has spawned hundreds of retellings. Inspired by the life of Alexander Selkirk, a sailor who lived for several years on a Pacific island, the novel tells the story of Crusoe’s survival after shipwreck on an island, interaction with the mainland’s native inhabitants, and eventual rescue. Read variously as economic fable, religious allegory, or imperialist fantasy, Crusoe has never lost its appeal as one of the most compelling adventure stories of all time. In addition to an introduction and helpful notes, this Broadview Edition includes a wide range of appendices that situate Defoe’s 1719 novel amidst castaway narratives, economic treatises, reports of cannibalism, explorations of solitude, and Defoe’s own writings on slavery and the African trade. A final appendix presents images of Crusoe’s rescue of Friday from a dozen of the most significant illustrated editions of the novel published between 1719 and 1920.

In 1719 Daniel Defoe wrote the first great English-language novel. Though a rich story and an excellent window to his times,300-year-old English is difficult to read. Therefore, enjoy an updated translation of the classic story.

Stranded alone on a remote island, Robinson Crusoe must summon the courage, inventiveness and faith necessary to survive and avoid despair in the midst of savage nature. Initially believed to be a true account, Robinson Crusoe is often seen as the very first English novel. The narrator offers a compelling account of his shipwreck and stranding on a desert isle. Armed with tools and weapons from the wreck, he methodically works to protect himself and better his chances of survival. As time passes, he farms, hunts and builds a fortified shelter. Troubled by the complete lack of human contact, Crusoe begins to contemplate his life and relation to God. He eventually encounters foes, in the form of cannibals who visit the island, as well as an unexpected ally. Often credited as one of the first examples of literary realism, the novel’s almost documentary tone can be credited for providing much of its enduring appeal. The lucid descriptions of Crusoe’s struggles put the reader in his place with great immediacy and creates wonder as to how well we might fare in the same conditions. This is the quintessential castaway story from which all others spring. Imitated and updated many times since its original appearance in 1719, the novel has been adapted into plays, opera, film, comics, television, radio and cartoons, and it has inspired countless other works in virtually all these media. Subject to steady re-interpretation down the years, Robinson Crusoe has been considered as everything from a political allegory of colonialism to a religious novel of Christian salvation, but through any lens it remains one of the most beloved and engaging novels in English. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Robinson Crusoe is both modern and readable.

'It happen'd one Day about Noon going towards my Boat, I was exceeding surpriz'd with the Print of a Man's naked Foot on the Shore, which was very plain to be seen in the Sand: I stood like one Thunder-struck ...' Robinson Crusoe (1719) is one of the most famous adventure stories ever written. The account of a sailor shipwrecked on a desert island for twenty-eight years, it is also a tale of mythic proportions, an allegory, and a spiritual autobiography.L

A classic description of the interworkings of social conditions changing attitudes, and literary practices during the period when the novel emerged as the dominant literary form of the individualist era.

In this volume, Ian Watt examines the myths of Faust, Don Quixote, Don Juan and Robinson Crusoe, as the distinctive products of modern society. He traces the way the original versions of Faust, Don Quixote and Don Juan - all written within a forty-year period during the Counter Reformation - presented unflattering portrayals of the three figures, while the Romantic period two centuries later recreated them as admirable and even heroic. The twentieth century retained their prestige as mythical figures, but with a new note of criticism. Robinson Crusoe came much later than the other three, but his fate can be seen as representative of the new religious, economic and social attitudes which succeeded the Counter-Reformation. The four figures help to reveal problems of individualism in the modern period: solitude, narcissism, and the claims of the self versus the claims of society. They all pursue their own view of what they should be, raising strong questions about their heroes' character and the societies whose ideals they reflect.

Robinson Crusoe is one of the most famous literary characters in history, and his story has spawned hundreds of retellings. Inspired by the life of Alexander Selkirk, a sailor who lived for several years on a Pacific island, the novel tells the story of Crusoe’s survival after shipwreck on an island, interaction with the mainland’s native inhabitants, and eventual rescue. Read variously as economic fable, religious allegory, or imperialist fantasy, Crusoe has never lost its appeal as one of the most compelling adventure stories of all time. In addition to an introduction and helpful notes, this Broadview Edition includes a wide range of appendices that situate Defoe’s 1719 novel amidst castaway narratives, economic treatises, reports of cannibalism, explorations of solitude, and Defoe’s own writings on slavery and the African trade. A final appendix presents images of Crusoe’s rescue of Friday from a dozen of the most significant illustrated editions of the novel published between 1719 and 1920.

Restless Classics presents the Three-Hundredth Anniversary Edition of Robinson Crusoe, the classic Caribbean adventure story and foundational English novel, with new illustrations by Eko and an introduction by Jamaica Kincaid that contextualizes the book for our globalized, postcolonial era. Three centuries after Daniel Defoe published Robinson Crusoe, this gripping tale of a castaway who spends thirty years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers before being ultimately rescued, remains a classic of the adventure genre and is widely considered the first great English novel. But the book also has much to teach us, in retrospect, about entrenched attitudes of colonizers toward the colonized that still resound today. As celebrated Caribbean writer Jamaica Kincaid writes in her bold new introduction, “The vivid, vibrant, subtle, important role of the tale of Robinson Crusoe, with his triumph of individual resilience and ingenuity wrapped up in his European, which is to say white, identity, has played in the long, uninterrupted literature of European conquest of the rest of the world must not be dismissed or ignored or silenced.”

At last – a revised edition of the controversial book that dared to tell the truth about the late Diana, Princess of Wales. Inspector Ken Wharfe, the first royalty protection officer to publish a memoir, was a crucial figure in the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, for nearly seven years from 1987. In that time, he became a close friend and trusted confidant who shared her most private moments. His first-hand account takes issue with many of the so-called 'facts' about the Princess and provides an affectionate, if not always uncritical, insight into this complex, troubled, but ultimately fascinating woman. Perhaps not surprisingly, the book caused a sensation on its first publication, and became both a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller. Here is the authentic voice of a man who played an important role during Diana's most difficult times, and in her beloved sons' formative years, and who shows himself to be an exceptionally perceptive observer of the events that unfolded around the Princess. After Inspector Wharfe resigned his position in 1993 (making headline news), Diana announced her withdrawal from public life and axed her Scotland Yard protection – a decision her former 'top cop' believes led ultimately to her death. Now revised and updated to include Ken Wharfe's insider's view of the vast mass of material that has been published about the late Princess since this book first appeared, his account presents the most intimate portrait of Diana to date, as well as a fitting tribute to one of the outstanding figures of our age.

This classic tale of survival and adventure has been updated with additional religious and moral reflections that enhance the story's themes. Author Daniel Defoe creates a vivid and engaging narrative that will keep readers captivated from beginning to end. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.