Academic literature on the topic 'Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. Robinson Crusoe'

Informe de Seminario para optar al grado de Licenciado en Lengua y Literatura Hispánica mención Literatura
[...] Ahora bien, la intención de este informe no es referir este amplio marco de estudio, sino centrarnos en una de sus manifestaciones más representativas durante el siglo XVIII, el Robinson Crusoe , escrito y publicado el año 1719 por Daniel Defoe en Inglaterra. La imagen del náufrago inglés es hoy casi universal, dada la fuerza de la metáfora de la sobrevivencia del hombre solo en una isla. Sin embargo, la lectura atenta de la novela y la investigación en torno a ella, han ido revelando cada vez con mayor detalle múltiples elementos dentro de ésta, que permiten identificar ciertas problemáticas que aquí queremos abordar. La primera motivación que fundamenta esta investigación es la de reconocer la obra de Daniel Defoe en un contexto de producción y dilucidar las redes que conectan al texto y su época. Sin embargo, esta resultaría una tarea demasiado extensa, dado que las posibilidades son múltiples: relación con un contexto religioso, relación con un contexto político, relación con un contexto social, económico, filosófico o incluso estrictamente literario. Pero la mejor solución para enfrentar este primer problema es simple: ceñirse a lo que la misma obra dice, a los elementos de la realidad que ésta desarrolla. Y el reconocimiento de estos, es el reconocimiento de la focalización. Los diccionarios de retórica consultados definen ésta fundamentalmente como el punto de vista desde el cual se narra. Ese es entonces nuestro primer objetivo: ¿quién y cómo narra Robinson Crusoe? ¿De qué herramientas se vale para ello? ¿Qué cosas son las que priman en esta relación? ¿Cómo se construye la perspectiva narrativa y de enunciación en la obra de Defoe?

Hayy Bin Yaqzan is a famous Arabic narrative written by the Muslim philosopher Abu Bakr Ibn Tufail in the twelfth century and translated first into Latin by Edward Pocock, the son, in 1671, then into English by George Keith in 1674, by George Ashwell in 1686, and by Simon Ockley in 1708. Ibn Tufail's work is mentioned in connection with Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, which appeared in 1719, by many critics who either accentuate or repudiate its significance as a possible source. This study goes beyond the off-hand question of derivation to compare these two analogous books, not to take part in the long-standing dispute but to inquire into the premises it stands upon and investigate its motivating grounds. After pointing out the identical settings of two men each stranded on a desert island, this study proceeds to analyze the approach of each book to the relationship between man and Nature. In the process of mastering their environments, Hayy and Crusoe awaken to the providential presence behind natural forces and learn to regulate themselves within the divine scheme and to form strong relations with God. The narratives of Ibn Tufail and Defoe share a concern not only with their heroes' solitude but also with their attitudes toward society, which threatens their sense of individuality. Whereas Hayy prefers his solitary state to immersion in human society and remains on his island accompanied only by one faithful apostle, Crusoe eagerly sails back to the world of men, although he too adjusts poorly to the spirit of society and spends the rest of his life roaming the globe. Examining the technical aspects of Robinson Crusoe and Hayy Bin Yaqzan, their narrative methods, their chronological order, their structure, style, and delineation of character, the study concludes that although the two books belong to different genres, they are still more similar than ordinarily assumed. It also finds that the question of indebtedness, which may never be resolved, is less significant than the broader similarities in cultural, political, and religious circumstances which may be at work.

Les traductions, abrégés, adaptations ou continuations constituent des opérations décisives lors de la diffusion et de la réception des oeuvres littéraires dans l’espace et dans le temps. L’histoire de la réception sur la longue durée de Robinson Crusoé en France et en Chine illustre ce phénomène de manière exemplaire. Les premières traductions françaises et chinoises ont toutes modifié l’original de Defoe pour répondre aux exigences et aux besoins de leur environnement et de leurs publics spécifiques, en même temps qu’elles ont contribué à modifier les sensibilités et les comportements des lecteurs. Sa diffusion en Europe occidentale puis dans le monde entier a transformé le roman de Defoe et ses avatars en un genre à contenu pédagogique et destiné à la jeunesse. La conception exposée par Rousseau dans l’Émile est à l’origine de ce tournant européen qui n’a cessé de poser un problème essentiel – celui du rapport entre le romanesque et l’instructif – à tous ceux qui, comme Campe, Wyss ou Jules Verne, ont voulu imiter ou adapter l’histoire de Robinson dans une perspective éducative. A force de réécritures explicitement revendiquées par leurs auteurs, l’histoire de Robinson a finalement obtenu le statut de mythe littéraire au XXe siècle. Au-delà de leurs différences, des écrivains contemporains comme le français Michel Tournier ou la sino-américaine Maxine Hong Kingston voient avant tout dans Robinson un symbole de la modernité. Celle-ci, comme les expériences propres à ces écrivains, débouchent sur des réécritures plus subtiles de Robinson Crusoé tout en manifestant la puissance et le dynamisme du modèle initial dont les transformations constituent le signe le plus visible
The translations, summaries, adaptations or continuations constitute the decisive operations during the distribution and the reception of the literary works in the space and in the time. The history of the long-lasting reception of Robinson Crusoé in France and in China illustrates this phenomenon in a exemplary way. Its first French and Chinese translations all modified the original of Defoe in order to meet the requirements and needs of their environment and of their specific public, at the same time as they both contributed to modify the sensibilities and the behavior of the readers. Its distribution in Western Europe then all over the world transformed the novel of Defoe and its variants into a genre with educational contents and intended for the youth. The conception proposed by Rousseau in his Émile is at the origin of this change occurred first in Europe which raises always the same essential question - that of the relationship between the fiction and the instruction - to all those who, as Campe, Wyss or Jules Verne, wanted to imitate or to adapt the story of Robinson for an educational purpose. By means of rewritings explicitly claimed by their authors, the story of Robinson finally obtained the status of literary myth in the 20th century. Beyond their differences, contemporary writers like French Michel Tournier or Chinese American Maxine Hong Kingston see above all in Robinson a symbol of the modernity. Reflections on the modernity, with the particular experiences belonging to these writers, result in more subtle rewritings of Robinson Crusoe, and show the power and the dynamism of the initial model the transformations of which constitute the most visible sign

Ecrits a la fin de la vie mouvementee de l'auteur, robinson crusoe, captain singleton, moll flanders, colonel jack, et roxana semblent etre des histoires de marginaux vivant a l'ecart de la societe. Pourtant, l7etude des liens entre individu et societe dans ces recits montre que la situation est plus complexe. Marginaux, exclus, isoles, pauvres surtout, mais jamais decourages, les heros, hommes et femmes, visent leur reintegration reussie de la societe. Si les romans se passent en grande patie a londres, l7etranger n7en est pas absent; les lieux exotiques ont un role dramatique important : le heros s'y rachete par son travail et sa reflexion, et il prospere. En angleterre, il transgresse les lois morales et civiles, et defoe essaye d'analyser les notions de faute et de delit. La societe est ekke que si l'on est marginalise, on ne peut la reintegrer qu'en se rendant coupable d'entorses a ses lois. Le heros est excusable si c'est la necessite de survie qui l'a pousse a sa mauvaise action, s'il ne persevere pas dans l e mal lorsqu'il est a l'abri du besoin, et si son repentir est veritable. C'est bien le roman de l'individu que daniel defoe a ecrit, et non une critique sociale. Il examine les droits et les devoirs de l'homme et de la femme. La reintegration achevee, le roman s'acheve. C'est nouvelle forme de fiction, recit qui fait croire a sa veracite, marque l'emergence de la notion d'individu moderne. L'homme existe dans la lutte, et prend corps dans la communication avec autrui
Written at the end of the author s'evential life, robinson crusoe, captain singleton, living on the fringe of society. And roxana seem to tell the story of men and women living on the fringe of society. And yet, studying the relationship between the individual and society in these stories reveals a more complex situation. Excluded, isolated, poor, but neve r put off, the hero, whether a man or a woman, aims at being admitted as a successful member of society. London is the main scene of the stories, but the heroes also go overseas and these exotic places play an important dramatic part; there, the hero redeems himself, through his work and reflexions, and becomes rich. En england, he breaks moral or civil laws, and defoe suggests a reflexion on the notion of crime : society is such that if one is on its edge, one cannot find one's way back into its midst without in fringing on its laws. So the heroes can be forgiven provided that it is th e necessity of survival that prompted their crimes, that they are not hardened in their bad ways, and that they sincerely repent their crimes. It is not severe criticism of society but definitely the struggle of an individual that defoe puts at the center of his novels, examining men's and women's rights and duties. Once the reintegration successful performed, the novel stops. A new form of fiction pretending authenticity, the novel emerges along with the very notion of the modern individual

Ce travail est la comparaison de quatre robinsonnades : « Le Robinson suisse » de Wyss, « L’île mystérieuse » de Verne, « Sa majeste des mouches » de Golding et « Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique » de Tournier, entre elles et avec le livre de référence : « Vie et aventures de Robinson Crusoé » de Defoe. Le thème de l'homme, isolé de ses semblables et confronté, dans un temps resserré à toutes les étapes de la civilisation offre le cadre merveilleux d'une réflexion sur le genre humain et sur l'organisation d'une société. Il permet, dans cet espace clos qu'est l'ile, d'observer un microcosme exemplaire. Suffisamment dense grâce à ce resserrement spatio-temporel et à cette réduction maximale des personnages, cette histoire est l'occasion pour chaque auteur d'exprimer ses espoirs ou ses craintes envers la société dont il devient l'apologiste ou le juge. La forme choisie par l'auteur, le cadre imposé par l'histoire sont des éléments caractéristiques de ces romans qui préconisent des attitudes identiques ou opposées face aux valeurs contemporaines
This work is the comparison of four texts written in imitation of Robinson Crusoe : Wyss's « Le Robinson suisse », J. Verne's « L’île mystérieuse », Golding's « Lord of the flies » and Tournier's « Vendredi ou les limbes du Pacifique » between them and with the originam Crusoe. The theme of man, all by himself, and facing within a compressed span of time all the stages of civilisation, provides a wonderful frame for a reflexion on mankind and the organisation of a given society. It affords an opportunity to observe an exmplary microcosm in this enclosed space of the island. Each story, dense enough because of the spatio-temporal compression, and the maximum reduction of the characters, is for each author the opportunity of formulating his hopes or fears in front of a society which he praises or condemns. The form chosen by each writer, the frame imposed by the story are characteristic elements of these novels, that recommend identical or different attitudes in front of contemporary values

Este estudo propõe uma leitura do século 21 de Robinson Crusoe, do escritor inglês Daniel Defoe, buscando identificar as razões que fazem a história do náufrago que vive numa ilha deserta por 28 anos permanecer excepcionalmente popular no mundo ocidental por três séculos. A leitura é um exercício prático do pensamento complexo, que constitui um dos três pilares da transdisciplinaridade, definido pelo pensador francês Edgar Morin. Esse enfoque consiste na identificação de padrões e inter-relações entre elementos internos do texto e externos a ele. O pensamento complexo conecta o conhecimento empírico/lógico/racional à sabedoria simbólica/mitológica/mágica. O estudo tem início com um retrospecto da carreira de Robinson Crusoe, considerando os textos fundadores que podem ter influenciado sua criação, e os inúmeros textos imitativos que se seguiram à sua publicação, originando um subgênero literário, das Robinsonadas. Uma síntese da biografia de Defoe ilustra o cenário de um mundo europeu de mudanças científicas, políticas e sociais radicais. O contexto e a fortuna crítica do autor são colocados lado a lado com a contribuição de estudos de filosofia da ciência, psicologia analítica, mitologia, antropologia e religião, na investigação do imaginário inscrito no romance. O capítulo quatro apresenta minha leitura transdisciplinar de Robinson Crusoe, destinada a demonstrar que a popularidade duradoura do romance é devida a seu poder de transmitir significados velados, conectados com elementos constitutivos do imaginário do mundo ocidental.
This study proposes a twenty-first-century reading of Robinson Crusoe, by British writer Daniel Defoe, aiming to identify the reasons why the story of the castaway who lives on an uninhabited island for 28 years has remained remarkably popular in the Western world for almost three centuries. The reading is a drill on Complex Thinking, as defined by French epistemologist Edgar Morin, one of the pillars of Transdisciplinarity. This approach consists of the identification of patterns and interrelationships among elements inside the text and elements external to it, in the light of a number of disciplines involved in the study. Complex Thinking connects empirical/logical/rational knowledge to symbolic/mythological/magical wisdom. The study starts with a review of the career of the book, considering the founding texts which might have influenced the creation of Robinson Crusoe, and the myriad of mimetic texts that followed its publication, giving birth to a literary subgenre, the Robinsonade. A glance at the life of Defoe is also offered, so as to illustrate the context of a European world of radical scientific, political and social changes. Contexts and the critical heritage of the work are put together with symbolic data that prove relevant for the research on the imaginary inscribed in the novel. Chapter three acknowledges the aid of a number of studies in the fields of philosophy of science, analytical psychology, mythology, anthropology and religion, which enabled me to interrelate diverse levels of reading. Chapter four offers my transdisciplinary reading of Robinson Crusoe, in which I endeavor to demonstrate that the continued popularity of the novel derives from its capacity to convey concealed meanings connected with elements constitutive of the Imaginary of the Western world.

O escritor ganhador do Prêmio Nobel de Literatura John Maxwell Coetzee publicou Foe em 1987. Ao lermos esse romance, somos imediatamente levados à ilha de Robinson Crusoe - e, conseqüentemente, ao mundo ficcional de Daniel Defoe. O objetivo deste trabalho é tomar a leitura da obra Foe, de Coetzee, como um comentário sobre a estética de construção de um romance. Esta é uma dissertação argumentativa, dividida em três partes. O primeiro capítulo introduz o autor e contextualiza as discussões sobre a Escrita, a História e a Ficção. O segundo capítulo traz o suporte teórico, que consiste na apresentação das idéias de Linda Hutcheon sobre Historiografia e nas conceitualizações sobre Meta-ficção, de Patricia Waugh. Ambas conduzem à referência poética ao Anjo da História feita por Walter Benjamin. A terceira parte comenta o romance Foe e o insere no conjunto da obra de Coetzee, apontando elementos compartilhados com os outros romances do autor. Na conclusão, espero validar a tese proposta, de que Foe é realmente um romance auto-reflexivo que reflete as condições de produção de sua época.
Nobel prize winner John Maxwell Coetzee published Foe in 1987. When reading that novel, we are taken back to Robinson Crusoe’s island – and, consequently, to the world of Daniel Defoe’s fiction. The aim of this work is to undertake the reading of Coetzee’s Foe as a study on the aesthetics of novelmaking. This is an argumentative thesis, divided into three parts. Chapter one introduces the author and contextualizes the discussions on Writing, History and Fiction. Chapter two brings the theoretical background, that consists of the presentation of Linda Hutcheon’s ideas about Historiography and Patricia Waugh’s conceptualizations on Metafiction, both of them relating to Walter Benjamin’s poetic reference to the Angel of History. The third part submits an analysis of Foe, and connects this novel with the other works written by Coetzee. In the conclusion, I hope to validate the thesis proposed, that Foe is, ultimately, a self-reflexive novel that reflects the aesthetics of novel making of its own time.

This study takes a structuralist approach to the development of the novel, arguing that eighteenth-century writers build progressive narrative by rendering abstract, then conflating, literary theories of gendered time that originate in the Renaissance with seventeenth-century scientific theories of motion. I argue that writers from the Renaissance through the eighteenth century generate and regulate progress-as-product in their narratives through gendered constructions of time that corresponded to the generation and regulation of economic, political, and social progress brought about by developing capitalism.

Robinson Crusoé est un mythe littéraire moderne en ce qu'il élabore au début du XVIIIè siècle un nouveau statut du sujet : il construit la figure médiatrice d'un "je" souverain qui relie le social et le sacré dissociés par le "désenchantement du monde". Il fonctionne à la manière d'un mythe en proposant une solution narrative à un dilemme d'ordre idéologique. Apparu grâce à la convergence de plusieurs thématiques de la solitude insulaire (observées depuis le "Philoctète" de Sophocle) que le roman de Defoe réunit pour la première fois, le mythe de Robinson se métamorphose dans ses versions de la seconde moitié du XXè siècle. Cinq romans du corpus retenu privilégient le thème de la quête d'un ailleurs (textes de M. Tournier, G. Compere, A. Hervé, J.G. Ballard, P. Theroux), quatre celui de la reproduction insulaire du monde extérieur (W. Golding, M. Spark, J.M. Coetzee). Tout en reprenant le schéma narratif et l'organisation structurale de leur hypotexte, ces robinsonnades remettent radicalement en question le sujet. Marquées par le silence ou la mort de Dieu, elles mettent en évidence la rupture des liens à autrui et à la transcendance à l'époque dite "postmoderne". Le "je" est alors conduit à disparaître ou à se dissoudre dans une identité nouvelle. Paradoxe du mythe littéraire qui se perpétue en s'investissant de contenus sémantiques opposés à ceux qui l'ont fait naître.

Themes of authorship in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko and Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe highlight locations in the stories that expose the author's concerns with their responsibilities and contributions to society. In order to frame a discussion of authorship in Oroonoko and Robinson Crusoe, it is essential to position Behn and Crusoe as travelers who write autobiographies of their involvement in exotic circumstances. Oroonoko and Robinson Crusoe betray the tensions that arise from the barriers separating travel and colonial objectives, individual agency and social action. Although the stories may incorporate truth and fiction, writing enables the authors to present, with symbolic images, concerns with their participation in situations that hinder the free expression of their will. I refer to Aphra Behn and Daniel Defoe as "geographers" of writing because they identify tenuous boundaries that organize social views concerning gender, responsibility and behavior in contrast to individual desires. Aphra Behn's narrative role in Oroonoko charts the tragic outcomes of Oroonoko's rejection of slavery and also draws attention to the reception of a female author. Behn's identity as an author, as it is constructed within Oroonoko, is intertwined with the murder of a slave prince, and with a woman's freedom to write and publish in the 1680s. Although Defoe is the author of the text, he manipulates the presentation of the story to convince readers that Crusoe wrote an authentic account of his years as a castaway on an unnamed island. In his journal, Crusoe discusses his position in his culture and the resulting circumstances that result from his rejection of family and economic position in search of adventure. With limited resources, Crusoe uses writing to redefine his agency in contrast to the threats of the island and his responsibilities to God, family and society. Although there may be discrepancies that blur the "true" identity and involvement of the author in autobiography, these narratives raise discourses concerning the balance between the individual's desires and society's expectations for behavior. Attention to authorship identifies the discourses and contradictions faced by Behn's and Crusoe's participation in travel and the subsequent translation, resolution and apology enabled by authorship.
Graduation date: 2002

Abstract Since his death in 1731, Daniel Defoe has attracted a vast range of responses, both for his literary achievements, wider social ideas, and his personality and actions. This chapter traces Defoe’s reception down to the middle of the twentieth century, by which time he had been canonized as a major author, particularly as a pioneering novelist. The chapter shows that this status has been hard-won. In the generation after his death, Defoe was to a large extent ignored, especially as most of his novels remained anonymous. Certain Romantic-era critics reclaimed Defoe, focusing on Robinson Crusoe. This acclaim continued in the Victorian period but was at that time combined with moralistic disapproval of some of his writings, as well as distaste for Defoe’s political duplicity. Modernist critics recuperated Defoe more ardently, and Defoe has attracted a wave of professional academic scholarship after World War II.

Abstract The story of Daniel Defoe’s publication, from his death in 1731 to the mid-twentieth century, shows three things that have been inadequately acknowledged in accounts of his posthumous reputation. First, his writings were extensively republished, and not just major novels like Robinson Crusoe, but also non-fiction works. Second, Defoe’s writings were repeatedly reissued to provide commentary on topical events of later eras. And third, Defoe’s writings were commonly adapted and appropriated when republished, refitted to serve the tastes and attitudes of new readers, even if they preserved his original anonymity. This chapter surveys a broad range of Defoe’s works: political and historical writings, books on commerce and travel, religious and didactic treatises, and the novels. It attends to illustrated and collected editions, as well as international publishing contexts and translations. Ultimately, it attests to the enduring availability and diverse influence of Defoe’s works in the two centuries after his death.