Robinson Crusoe (1719) is a novel by Daniel Defoe, presented as the true memoir of a sailor shipwrecked for twenty-eight years on an island off South America. Often called the first English novel, it became one of the most translated books in the world.
The story
Against his father's advice, young Robinson Crusoe of York goes to sea. After many adventures, including slavery in North Africa and a plantation in Brazil, he sails for Africa and is shipwrecked, the only survivor, on an island near the mouth of the Orinoco.
From the wreck he salvages tools, guns and food, builds a shelter, grows crops, tames goats and keeps a journal. After many years he saves a man from cannibals, whom he names Friday; together they eventually escape on an English ship.
Selkirk and the success
Defoe drew on the story of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who asked to be put ashore on an island of the Juan Fernández archipelago, off Chile, and lived alone there from 1704 to 1709.
Published in April 1719 without the author's name, as written 'by himself', the book was reprinted four times in four months. Defoe wrote a sequel, The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, the same year.
Legacy
The book inspired a whole genre, the 'Robinsonade', from The Swiss Family Robinson to Michel Tournier's Friday. Rousseau, in Émile, wanted it to be the first book a child should read.
Readers have seen in Crusoe a hero of self-reliance and work, an image of the European colonist, or a spiritual story of conversion; the relationship between Crusoe and Friday is now often read critically.
Anecdotes
An island renamed
In 1966 Chile renamed the island where Alexander Selkirk had lived Robinson Crusoe Island, and a neighbouring island, which Selkirk never visited, Alejandro Selkirk Island.
A very long title
The full original title runs to more than forty words: The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner, followed by a summary of the whole story.
Frequently asked questions
Is Robinson Crusoe based on a true story?
Partly. Defoe was inspired by Alexander Selkirk, who lived alone on an island off Chile from 1704 to 1709, though Crusoe's island is placed in the Caribbean, near the Orinoco.
How long was Crusoe on the island?
Twenty-eight years, two months and nineteen days, according to the novel.
Who is Friday?
A young man whom Crusoe saves from cannibals and who becomes his servant and companion. Crusoe names him after the day of the week on which they met.