Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe regarded by many to be first novel in English is also the original tale of a castaway struggling to survive on a remote desert island This Penguin Classics is edited with an introduction & notes by John Richetti The sole survivor of a shipwreck Robinson Crusoe is washed up on a desert island In his journal he chronicles his daily battle to stay alive as he conquers isolation fashions shelter & clothes enlists the help of a native islander who he names ' Friday' & fights off cannibals & mutineers Written in an age of exploration & enterprise it has been variously interpreted as an embodiment of British imperialist values as a portrayal of 'natural man' or as a moral fable But above all is a brilliant narrative depicting Crusoe's transformation from terrified survivor to self-sufficient master of an island This edition contains a full chronology of Defoe's life & times explanatory notes glossary & a critical introduction discussing Robinson Crusoe as a pioneering work of modern psychological realism Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) had a variety of careers including merchant soldier & political pamphleteer Over the course of his life Daniel Defoe wrote over two hundred & fifty books on economics history biography & crime but is best remembered for the fiction he produced in late life which
Includes:: Robinson Crusoe (1719) Moll Flanders (1722) & Roxana (1724) Defoe had a great influence on the development of the English novel & many consider him to be the first true novelist If you enjoyed Robinson Crusoe you may like Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo also available in Penguin Classics' Robinson Crusoe has a universal appeal a story that goes right to the core of existence' Simon Armitage