Written in the genre of an adventure novel, the most famous work of the talented English journalist Daniel Defoe was a resounding success and served as an impetus for the development of such a trend in literature as traveler's notes. The plausibility of the plot and the reliability of the presentation - this is precisely the effect the author tried to achieve, presenting the events in a spare, everyday language, in style more reminiscent of journalism.
History of creation
The real prototype of the main character, a Scottish sailor, as a result of a serious quarrel, was landed by his crew on a desert island, where he spent over four years. By changing the time and place of action, the writer created an amazing biography of a young Englishman who found himself in extreme circumstances.
Published in 1719, the book created a sensation and demanded a sequel. Four months later, the second part of the epic was released, and later the third. In Russia, an abridged translation of the publication appeared almost half a century later.
Description of the work. Main characters
Young Robinson, drawn by a dream of the sea, leaves his father's house against the will of his parents. After a series of adventures, having suffered a disaster, the young man finds himself on an uninhabited island located far from sea trade routes. His experiences, steps to find a way out of the current situation, a description of the actions taken to create a comfortable and safe environment on a lost piece of land, moral maturation, rethinking of values - all this formed the basis of a fascinating story that combines the features of memoir literature and a philosophical parable.
The main character of the story is a young man in the street, a bourgeois with traditional views and mercantile goals. The reader observes the change in his character, the transformation of consciousness as the story progresses.
Another striking character is the savage Friday, who was saved by Crusoe from the massacre of cannibals. The Indian's loyalty, courage, sincerity and common sense conquer Robinson; Friday becomes a good helper and friend.
Analysis of the work
The story is told in the first person, in simple, precise language, allowing one to reveal the hero’s inner world, his moral qualities, and assessment of current events. The absence of specific artistic techniques and pathos in the presentation, laconicism and specificity add authenticity to the work. Events are conveyed in chronological order, but sometimes the narrator refers to the past.
The storyline divides the text into two components: the life of the central character at home and the period of survival in the wild.
Placing Robinson in critical conditions for 28 long years, Defoe shows how, thanks to energy, spiritual strength, hard work, observation, ingenuity, and optimism, a person finds ways to solve pressing problems: gets food, arranges a home, makes clothes. Isolation from society and familiar stereotypes reveals the best qualities of his personality in a traveler. Analyzing not only the environment, but also the changes taking place in his own soul, the author, through the mouth of Robinson, with the help of simple words, makes it clear what, in his opinion, is actually important and paramount, and what can be easily done without. Remaining a man in difficult conditions, Crusoe confirms by his example that simple things are enough for happiness and harmony.
Also, one of the central themes of the story is the description of the exoticism of a deserted island and the influence of nature on the human mind.
Created in the wake of interest in geographical discoveries, Robinson Crusoe was intended for an adult audience, but today it has become an entertaining and instructive masterpiece of children's prose.
700 kilometers off the coast of Chile there is a small island that is part of the Juan Fernandez archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. The almost tiny island, only 22 kilometers long, is very popular among tourists. After all, this is the island of Robinson Crusoe himself! That's what it's called.
It was here that the events of Daniel Defoe's famous novel Robinson Crusoe took place. In 2008, a team of scientists from the British Society for Post-Medieval Archeology, led by Professor Andrew Lambert, landed on Robinson Island. Scientists decided to find out if what is written in the book is true? Or is the story described by Daniel Defoe a fiction from beginning to end?
Imagine the amazement of archaeologists when they realized that Robinson actually existed. Although almost 300 years have passed since then, scientists have found traces of his presence on the island - household items, navigation instruments from the early 18th century. Here's what one of the expedition participants, Doctor of History of the Museum in Scotland, David Caldwell, said about this:
“All these artifacts date back to the time when Selkirk was supposed to have lived on the island. The most important find we discovered was a small metal piece, which, in my opinion, was part of a navigation compass, which was used to measure distances and lay out navigation paths on the map.”
According to archaeologists, this proves that Robinson's story is real. Moreover, Robinson's habitat remains. He lived near a stream where he built two huts. But today all that remains of Robinson’s home are wooden stakes. True, this man’s real name was not Robinson Crusoe, but Alexander Selkirk. The story that happened in 1704 with this English sailor on a desert island became the basis of the famous novel by Daniel Defoe. Moreover, scientists have found that the real life of Alexander Selkirk is no less amazing than the adventures of the literary character Robinson Crusoe.
The monument to Alexander Selkirk is his only image, and it is located in the sailor’s homeland in the Scottish city of Largo. When in 1703 the future Robinson - 27-year-old Alexander Selkirk - got a job as a boatswain on the ship "Sank Port", he was already an experienced sailor! From the age of 15 he went to sea and experienced a lot over the years. For example, he was in the hands of French pirates, who sold him into slavery.
Alexander then escaped from captivity. The upcoming voyage on the Sankpor galley was no less dangerous, but promised considerable benefits. And all because in 1701 a long Ten Years' War began in Europe. France and Austria fought for the right to place their king on the Spanish throne. Most European states were drawn into the conflict. Including Great Britain, which fought against Spain on the side of the Austrian Empire. Since England and Spain were at war, the British fleet was officially authorized to attack and plunder Spanish ships...
Dozens of ships were involved in this dangerous but profitable business! One of them was the 16-gun galley Senk Por, where Alexander Selkirk was hired as a boatswain. In September 1703, his ship from London set off for the Pacific Ocean - where it was easiest to meet Spanish galleons transporting gold from the Mexican and Peruvian colonies to Europe. However, Selkirk and his comrades were unlucky: a year of sailing passed, and still there was no booty. Meanwhile, the ship was deteriorating, half the crew died of scurvy. Moreover, conflicts began on the ship between the captain and the boatswain. Alexander Selkirk demanded to moor to the nearest island for rest and repairs. However, Captain Thomas Stradling decided that the boatswain was starting a mutiny on the ship...
In anger, Selkirk said that he refused to work in such conditions and demanded that he be dropped off on the nearest island 700 km off the coast of Chile. In the heat of an argument, he was disembarked from the ship and left with a minimum of food, a set of outer clothing, a gun, 20 pounds of gunpowder, a knife, and a small chest of tools.
The rebellious boatswain hoped that he would not stay on the island for long. After all, ships occasionally came here to replenish their supplies of drinking water... However, Selkirk did not know that four long years awaited him in complete solitude. At first, Selkirk did not particularly care about creating any conditions - he slept in the open air, covered with a blanket. The gun allowed him to hunt game, but even without it he could survive. After all, there are many fruits on the island. It was possible to catch fish and sea turtles. At first, the main occupation for Selkirk was to keep a calendar of his stay on the island. But the days passed, and there were still no ships on the horizon. After a few weeks on a desert island, Selkirk realized that there was nowhere to wait for help.
During his first year as Robinson, Selkirk built himself a hut. Then he found grains of cereals and began to grow wheat, starting a vegetable garden. In the second year of his life, the sailor built something like a farm by taming wild goats. So there was always plenty of fresh meat and milk... When European clothes wore out, Selkirk, like the literary Robinson later, sewed clothes for himself from goat skins, using nails instead of needles. But the most powerful test for Selkirk, as for any person who found himself in the role of Robinson on a desert island, was not not to die of hunger, but not to survive crazy from loneliness. After all, unlike the literary hero, Selkirk did not have a friend - Friday. The sailor was saved by the fact that he had a goal - to survive at any cost and wait for people to appear. Every day Selkirk climbed the highest mountain on his island and looked out for the ship. After 4 years and 4 months he appeared.
When the British ship Duke approached the shore of Robinson Island in 1709, its crew did not immediately understand what kind of creature it was rushing along the shore. Selkirk, overgrown and dressed in animal skins, was mistaken for some exotic animal... Moreover, when it became clear that he was a man, Selkirk was not immediately able to explain who he was and where he came from. Because he simply couldn’t speak - he just mumbled. But 4 years spent alone did not turn Selkirk into an animal. Soon his speech returned. And upon arriving home in England in 1712, Selkirk wrote a book about his adventures... However, he was not an important writer. But people went in droves to the tavern, where the sailor talked about his adventures... Where journalist Daniel Defoe also stopped by.
As a result, the writer Defoe in 1719 literally made a fortune with a book about a man from a desert island. After all, it was printed in huge numbers and translated into dozens of languages around the world. While things were not going so well for the real Robinson, the sailor Alexander Selkirk. He was unable to adapt to civilization. And a few years later he set off again on a new voyage. This time it's the last one. On December 16, 1723, the Weymouth's first mate, Alexander Selkirk, contracted yellow fever and died. Selkirk was buried far from home - off the coast of West Africa at sea. So there is no Robinson grave. But on the highest point of the Chilean Robinson Island, where Selkirk’s observation post was located, a memorial plaque was installed. And on the shore there is a monument to Robinson Crusoe, which symbolizes hard work, patience, courage and endurance of a person...
ROBINSON KRUZO (English Robinson Crosoe) is the hero of the novel by D. Defoe “The Strange Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Written by Himself” (1719). Image of R.K. has great universal significance. This side of him was especially noted by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his novel “Emile, or About 351 Education” (1762). Finding himself on a desert island after a shipwreck, R.K. single-handedly goes through many stages in the formation of humanity as a working community, learns agriculture, construction, crafts, and over time, when the Spaniards arrive on the island, gradually rises to fair forms of social life. However, R.K. not initially divorced from the conquests of civilization. When the empty ship (all the crew members, except R.K., died) washes up on the shore, he takes out everything that could be useful to him in his later life, and after some hesitation, he also takes the money remaining on the ship. “Robinson Crusoe” was preceded great travel literature. The inner world of this hero was to a significant extent determined by the allegorical book of the Puritan writer John Bunyan “The Pilgrim's Progress” (1678). The difference between R.K. the fact that religiosity in him constantly struggles with sanity. Defoe's novel marked the beginning of a literary movement: works called Robinsonades narrated the clash of an isolated person or group of people with a hitherto unconquered nature. (“The Mysterious Island” by Jules Verne). The immediate impetus for the appearance of this book was the true story of the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, described in the journalism of that time, who quarreled with the captain of his ship and landed on an uninhabited island belonging to the Juan Fernandez archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, where he spent four years and four months until he was picked up by an English ship under the command of the famous explorer Woodes Rogers. This man first reported the story of Selkirk in his subsequently published diaries. There is information that Defoe himself, at that time a famous journalist, met with Selkirk. The great success of Robinson Crusoe prompted Defoe to quickly write its second part - The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719). R.K. revisits his island, where he creates a model colony, travels to other countries, including Russia. During this journey, he is almost killed when he is attacked by a pack of wolves. A year later, Defoe published the didactic book “Serious Reflections on the Life and Amazing Adventures of R. K., with his vision of the angelic world" (1720). In this unexpected and poorly received book, Defoe argued that the adventures of R.C. represent an allegorical depiction of the life of the author himself, who had to face all kinds of injustice. Defoe compares his enemies to “the worst kind of savages and cannibals.”
Lit.: Elistratova A.A. Defoe // History of English Literature. M.; L., 1945. T.1, issue. 2.
Consideration of the question of who wrote “Robinson Crusoe” in a school lesson should begin with a brief description of the biography and work of the writer. D. Defoe was a famous English writer, the founder of the novel genre in the spirit of enlightenment ideology. He was a very versatile author: he owned a huge number of works of various genres, devoted to topics of economics, politics, art, religion and many others. However, the aforementioned novel, which he created quite late, brought him worldwide fame. The author was 59 years old when the book was published.
Childhood, youth, interests
Daniel Defoe was born into the family of an ordinary London merchant in 1660. He studied at the theological academy, but did not become a priest. His father advised him to become a businessman and engage in trade.
The young man quickly mastered the craft of a merchant, studying at the Trading House in the famous City of London. After some time, the enterprising businessman opened his own business selling stockings, bricks, and tiles. The future famous writer became interested in politics and was always at the center of the most important events in his country. Thus, he took part in the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion against the English king James II Stuart in 1685. He studied a lot, studied foreign languages, traveled around Europe, constantly improving his education.
Becoming a writer
Daniel Defoe began his literary activity in 1697, publishing a work called “An Essay on Projects.” In this essay, he proposed some measures to improve the social system through financial reforms.
Being a merchant and successful entrepreneur, the writer believed that creating favorable conditions for trade would improve the social position of the middle class. This was followed by the satirical work “The Thoroughbred Englishman” (1701). This curious essay was written in support of the new English king, William III of Orange, who was Dutch by nationality. In this poem, the writer conveyed the idea that true nobility depends not on social status, but on the morality of people.
Other writings
To understand the work of the one who wrote “Robinson Crusoe,” it is necessary to consider the author’s most famous works, which will allow us to understand his worldview. While in prison, he composed “Hymn to the Pillory,” which brought him popularity among the democratic intelligentsia. After his release, important changes took place in the writer’s life: he became a government agent. Many literary scholars attribute this change to the fact that his views became more moderate.
World recognition
Probably every schoolchild knows who wrote Robinson Crusoe, even if he has not read the novel itself. This work was published in 1719, when the writer was already in old age. The novel was based on a real story that happened to the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, who lived alone on a desert island for quite a long time and managed to survive.
However, the writer filled his novel with new, educational content. He showed the triumph of the human spirit in difficult, almost critical conditions. His hero independently overcomes all the difficulties that befall him, equipping the island near which his ship was shipwrecked according to a civilizational model. The author concisely showed the evolution of human history from the stage of barbarism to civilization. The hero of the story, finding himself in primitive conditions, after some time (thanks to his efforts and efforts) turned the island into a kind of colony, which was not only suitable for a tolerable existence, but even turned out to be quite profitable from an economic point of view.
Plot
One of the most famous novels in world literature is the work “Robinson Crusoe”. The main characters of this book are the narrator himself and his faithful friend and assistant named Friday. The first was engaged in trade, traveled a lot until he ended up on a desert island. The second is a representative of the local tribe, who was saved from death by the main character.
They became friends and did not part even after they returned to human society. The plot of the book “Robinson Crusoe” is quite simple, but at the same time very deep: it is dedicated to the struggle of man not only for physical, but moral survival. The climax of the novel can be considered the scene of the fight with the local tribe, as a result of which Friday was saved. At the end of the book, the heroes embark on new journeys and found a colony on the island.
The meaning of the novel
When you mention the name of the one who wrote “Robinson Crusoe,” the image of an intellectual immediately appears - a typical representative of the Enlightenment. And indeed, this novel is completely imbued with the pathos of rationalism. After all, the main character, through the wise use of the natural resources at his disposal, completely modifies the landscape of the environment, so that subsequently a colony of settlers even arose here. However, the author, a man of his time, nevertheless went further.
"Robinson Crusoe" is a book that anticipated the development of not only adventure, but also historical and memoir novels in European literature. The writer not only asserted the triumph of the human mind over the forces of nature, but also made many interesting artistic discoveries that turned him into a world-class writer.
Features of the work
Perhaps the most important advantage of the work is its authenticity. The author describes the amazing adventures of his hero very simply, without unnecessary pathos, which is what made this character so beloved by millions of readers. "Robinson Crusoe" is a book that is the memoirs of the main character. The narration is told in the first person.
This man talks about his lonely life on the island without unnecessary emotion or drama. On the contrary, he recounts events calmly and unhurriedly. Crusoe consistently describes his work and labor to survive on a desert island, and this gives the story authenticity. The second undoubted advantage of the novel is its language. The writer masterfully conveyed pictures of nature, and he was especially good at landscape sketches.
Influence
It is difficult to overestimate the contribution to world literature that Defoe made. Robinson Crusoe is a novel that influenced many famous writers. Subsequently, works appeared in European literature that had direct references to the cult novel. One of them is the work of Pastor J. Wyss, who wrote the work “The Adventures of the Swiss Robinson Family.” The plot of this book is very similar to this work, with the only difference being that this time it’s not just one person, but a whole family that ends up on the island.
The famous novel The Mysterious Island was also written under the clear influence of Defoe. Robinson Crusoe is a story about how one man changed the nature around him. In the same work by J. Verne, the same thing is done by several people who, by chance, found themselves on an uninhabited land. So, the influence of Defoe’s work on world literature is undeniable. Several films have been made based on his book, which indicates the continued interest in his work.
Daniel Defoe wrote more than 300 works of fiction and journalism. But his novel about Robinson Crusoe, the first edition of which was published 290 years ago, brought him worldwide fame. On the writer’s tombstone it is engraved: “Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe.”
Twenty eight years old
Daniel Defoe wrote a book about the adventures of a sailor from York quite late; in 1719, the novelist was already approaching 60. The full title of the first edition of the novel about Robinson Crusoe was: “The Life, Extraordinary and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a Sailor from York, Who Lived Twenty-Eight Years completely alone on an uninhabited island off the coast of America near the mouth of the Orinoco River, where he was thrown by a shipwreck, during which the entire crew of the ship, except himself, died, with an account of his unexpected liberation by pirates, written by himself."
The novel is written in the form of an autobiography, the diary of Robinson Crusoe, who, as the title suggests, spent more than a quarter of a century on a desert island after the shipwreck. The reality and documentary nature of the novel is supported by the accuracy of the description - in dates, coordinates and inches. Before the appearance of the “fictional” Robinson Crusoe, descriptions of genuine travels and adventures were published.
For example, the work “Travels Around the World from 1708 to 1711 by Captain Woods Rogers” told about the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, who was landed on a desert island and lived there alone for more than four years. Later, this story was told by another captain, Cook, and, some time later, by journalist Richard Steele.
In the preface to the first edition, Defoe wrote: “There is still among us a man whose life served as the basis for this book.” It is believed that Daniel Defoe meant Selkirk.
In October 1704, Selkirk, after a quarrel with the captain of the galleon Cinque Ports, was abandoned on the deserted island of Mas Atierra, or Aguas Buenas, now called Robinson Crusoe, part of the Juan Fernandez archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. , 640 km from the coast of Chile. He was left with a musket, gunpowder, a knife, carpenter's tools, and a Bible. He spent four years and four months completely alone until he was discovered by another ship.
By the way, scientists have confirmed the authenticity of Selkirk's story. During archaeological excavations on the island, they were able to discover traces of a camp in which, in particular, two navigational instruments were found.
It is also possible that the prototype of the hero of the novel by Daniel Defoe could be the doctor Henry Pitman, exiled to one of the islands in the Caribbean for rebelling against the English king James II in 1685.
Researchers note that the doctor not only managed to survive on a desert island, he managed to build a pirogue and escape from the island. However, he only reached another uninhabited island off the coast of Venezuela, where he was later rescued by Venezuelan sailors who arrived for fresh water.
After his return to England in 1689, Pitman published a book entitled The Surprising Adventures of Henry Pitman. It is known that in London Pitman lived in the same house with the publisher of the book by Daniel Defoe. A researcher of Defoe's work, travel writer Tim Severin, who revealed all the twists and turns of this story, suggested that Pitman and Defoe knew each other well, and the former doctor told the writer many details of his adventures.
Another contender for the role of Robinson's prototype is a Portuguese rogue named Fernao Lopez, according to the website "Network Literature". But it was Daniel Dafoe who became the founder of the genre, which later became known as “Robinsonade”. And the name Robinson became a household name.
Ten years and nine months
By the way, Dafoe had three novels in total about the adventures of a sailor from York. In the second, less popular novel, The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Robinson travels around the world in ten years and nine months. He sets off by ship from England, travels through South America, and sails to India and China. Then it crosses all of Asia, Siberia, the European north of Russia and returns to England through Arkhangelsk.
His caravan moves through the steppes and forests to Nerchinsk, crosses the huge Cheks Lake and reaches Yeniseisk on the Yenisei River, then Crusoe spends the winter in Tobolsk.
In Crusoe's descriptions, Siberia is a populated country, in the cities and fortresses of which Russian garrisons protect roads and caravans from the predatory raids of the Tatars. Robinson Crusoe calls all of Siberia and the Urals Great Tatary and almost all the ethnic groups of these regions - Tatars. On Western European maps of that era, these territories and their inhabitants were called that way, reports the newspaper "Youth of the North".
The novel describes in detail the wintering in Tobolsk, where exiled Moscow nobles, princes, and military personnel lived. The traveler gets especially close to the disgraced minister Prince Golitsyn. He offers to facilitate his escape from Siberia, but the old nobleman refuses, and the traveler takes his son away from Russia.
The third part of the epic “Serious reflections during the life and amazing adventures of Robinson Crusoe, including his visions of the angelic world” is not a work of art, but rather an essay on socio-philosophical and religious topics.
By the way, the second novel about the adventures of Robinson Crusoe, published in England also in 1719, has not been published in Russia since 1935 for more than 60 years - until 1996.
Robinson Crusoe in Russia
But in Russia there are descendants of Robinson Crusoe, reports “Science and Life” with reference to the book by journalist Solomon Kipnis “Notes of a necropolisist. Walks around Novodevichy”.
An unusual surname was given to the peasant Nikolai Fokin, who escaped from his native village, reached Arkhangelsk and joined a merchant ship there as a cabin boy. On one of his voyages in the Indian Ocean, the captain noticed an island that was not marked on the map. He ordered the boat to be launched and to find out what was there. Halfway to the shore, storm waves overturned the boat, and the rowers found themselves in the water. Some swam to the ship, and cabin boy Fokin and one of the sailors swam to an uninhabited island.
Only three days later the weather allowed us to send a boat for them. In memory of this adventure, the captain ordered Fokin to be “renamed” Robinson Crusoe, which was recorded in the logbook, and the cabin boy was given a document with a new surname. And Fokin returned to his native village as Robinson Crusoe.
Now there is a person living in Moscow whose first and last name is Robinson Crusoe, reports the website newsru.com.
The material was prepared by the online editors of www.rian.ru based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
