Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1719
- Form
- Novel
- Language
- English
- Length
- Long · 320 pp300 to 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendRobinson CrusoeOxford World's Classics, 2007Prints the 1719 first-edition text with notes on the sources and the colonial context.
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Crusoe goes to sea against his father's advice, is enslaved by corsairs, escapes, prospers as a Brazilian planter, and is shipwrecked alone on an island near the mouth of the Orinoco. He spends twenty-eight years there, and the book's substance is his inventory: what he salvaged, what he built, how long the fence took, how the barley grew, the pots that cracked. A fever and a Bible bring about his conversion. A footprint ends his solitude, and the arrival of cannibals gives him a servant, Friday, whom he teaches English and Christianity before a mutinous crew offers him a way home.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Robinson Crusoe are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
