Robinson Crusoe - Defoe, Daniel

. .

Résumé :
Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. This first edition credited the work's fictional protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a travelogue of true incidents. It was published under the considerably longer original title The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character (whose birth name is Robinson Kreutznaer)-a castaway who spends years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers before being rescued. The story is widely perceived to have been influenced by the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived for four years on the Pacific island called M?s a Tierra (in 1966 its name was changed to Robinson Crusoe Island), Chile. However, other possible sources have been put forward for the text. It is possible, for example, that Defoe was inspired by the Latin or English translations of Ibn Tufail's Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, an earlier novel also set on a desert island. Another source for Defoe's novel may have been Robert Knox's account of his abduction by the King of Ceylon in 1659 in An Historical Account of the Island Ceylon, Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons (Publishers to the University), 1911.

Sommaire:
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) was an English writer, journalist, and businessman who is best known for his novels, particularly Robinson Crusoe, which is widely considered to be one of the first novels in the English language. Defoe was born in London to a wealthy Presbyterian family and was educated at a dissenting academy. Defoe initially worked in the hosiery trade but later turned to writing, publishing a variety of political and social commentary in newspapers and pamphlets. He was a prolific writer, producing over 500 works during his lifetime, including novels, poetry, and essays. Defoe's most famous novel, Robinson Crusoe, was published in 1719 and tells the story of a man who is shipwrecked on a deserted island and must survive on his own. The novel was a huge success and has been translated into numerous languages. In addition to his literary pursuits, Defoe was involved in politics and served as a spy and propagandist for the British government. He was imprisoned several times for his controversial writings, including his support for religious toleration and his criticisms of the government. Defoe died in 1731 and is remembered as one of the most important figures in English literature, as well as a pioneering journalist and political commentator....