Robinson Crusoe is the narrator and protagonist of Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel of the same name, an Englishman shipwrecked alone on a remote tropical island for twenty-eight years after ignoring his family's wishes to pursue a life at sea. Left with only a handful of tools and supplies salvaged from the wreck, Crusoe methodically builds a shelter, farms, domesticates goats and constructs a self-sufficient existence through years of solitary labor, an ordeal the novel presents partly as a spiritual reckoning with his earlier disobedience and pride. Roughly halfway through his isolation he rescues a native man from cannibals, names him Friday, and teaches him English and Christianity, forming the novel's central and much-debated depiction of a colonial master-servant relationship before Crusoe is eventually rescued and returns to England. Often cited as one of the first novels written in English, Robinson Crusoe and its castaway premise gave rise to an entire subsequent genre of survival fiction known as the Robinsonade.
Facts
Narrative RoleSourced to the subject's own accountTitle character of Daniel Defoe's 1719 adventure novel Robinson Crusoe, often credited as the first novel, or at least the first English novel. 1 Defining TraitSourced to the subject's own accountCast away and spending twenty-eight years on a remote tropical island near Venezuela and Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives and mutineers before being rescued. 1 Narrative role (class)Sourced to the subject's own account FAQs
Was Robinson Crusoe based on a real castaway?
Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway marooned for four years, is the most commonly cited real-life model, though scholars dispute whether he was Defoe's only source.
Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor marooned for four years on the island of Mas a Tierra in the Juan Fernandez Islands off Chile, is the castaway most often cited as the model for Robinson Crusoe. Selkirk was rescued in 1709 and an account of his ordeal was published soon after. Daniel Defoe never confirmed or denied that Selkirk was his model. Some scholars, including the historian Andrew Lambert, argue that treating Selkirk as the single real-life source is a false premise and that the novel draws on a wider compound of buccaneer survival accounts.
Connections
Open Questions
Source Robinson Crusoe (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Robinson Crusoe (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section, paragraph 1
It is often credited as marking the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre, and has been described as the first novel, or at least the first English novel
Lead section, paragraph 2
the book follows the title character (born Robinson Kreutznaer) after he is cast away and spends 28 years on a remote tropical desert island near the coasts of Venezuela and Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers before being rescued.
Background section, on Alexander Selkirk
Daniel Defoe, a secretive man, neither confirmed nor denied that Selkirk was the model for the hero of his book
Background section, Andrew Lambert on Selkirk as sole source
a complex compound of all the other buccaneer survival stories
View the Source Open Questions (1 open question)
Was Robinson Crusoe based specifically on Alexander Selkirk, or on a composite of several real castaways' accounts?
Defoe never named a source. Alexander Selkirk's widely publicized 1709 rescue is the real-life account most often cited as the model, but historian Andrew Lambert and others argue this single-source reading is a false premise, since the novel differs from Selkirk's own story in concrete ways: Crusoe is shipwrecked rather than self-marooned, and his island is already inhabited rather than solitary.
What would resolve this A surviving Defoe letter, manuscript note, or contemporary account naming his source or sources directly; no such document is currently known.
Literary history and eighteenth-century book historyRobinson Crusoe (Wikipedia)
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