Book Description
Daniel Defoe led an exciting and indeed precarious life. A provocative pamphleteer and journalist, a spy and double agent, a revolutionary and a dreamer, he was variously hunted by mobs with murderous intent and treated as a celebrity by the most powerful leaders of the country. Imprisoned
many times, pilloried and reviled by his enemies, through it all he managed to produce some of the most significant literature of the eighteenth century.
Daniel Defoe: Master of Fictions is the first biography to view Defoe's complex life through the angle of vision that is most important to us as modern readers--his career as a writer.Maximillian Novak, a leading authority on Defoe, ranges from the writer's earliest collection of brief
stories, which he presented to his future wife under the sobriquet Bellmour, to his Compleat English Gentleman, left unpublished at his death. Novak illuminates such works as Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders, novels that changed the course of fiction in their time and have remained towering
classics to this day. And he reveals a writer who was a superb observer of his times--an age of dramatic historical, political, and social change. Indeed, through his many pamphlets, newspapers, books of travel, and works of fiction, Defoe commented on everything from birth control to the price of
coal, and from flying machines to the dangers of the plague.
Beautifully and authoritatively written, this is the first serious, full-scale biography of Defoe to appear in a decade. It gives us, for the first time, a full understanding of the thought and personal experience that lie behind some of the great works of English literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Biography or Bibliography?
Before reading this book, I knew Daniel Defore only through his exciting fiction: Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, etc.

It turns out that Defoe also has an exciting life: struggling merchant in and out of bankruptcy, political pamphleteer, pilloried for slander, government spy, and so on.

Sadly, though you can pick the interesting elements of Defoe's life out of this work, it takes some effort.Novak's book is really a lengthy analysis of Defoe through his writings and spends much more time discussing the polemical meaning of various poems than, say, Defoe's relationship with his wife, or his travel, or his education.

In fact, all aspects of Defoe's life are really only described in this biography insofar as they can be accessed through Defoe's writings.This makes the book -- whose scholarship I do not fault -- tedious and not very easy to read as biography. ... Read more

Product Description
Hardcover Classics Club edition 1969 reprint with same cover and same presentation as original Walter J. Black edition. ... Read more

Book Description
Introduction by John Richetti ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A deep polemic, not a children's story, but a great adventure
Reviewers are completely missing the point of this novel.It isn't primarily an adventure story: it is primarily a tract, a polemic against Rome.Nonetheless, taken just as a novel, it is one of the best and most enjoyable I have read.

If your only encounter with Robinson Crusoe so far has been through some children's adaptation, you're in for a real treat.The kids' adaptations remove most of what makes this a good read.There is so much to the plot that I keep remembering twists that I've forgotten.

That said, I found it an extremely gripping novel.Despite the occasionally unfamiliar language, the action is fast-paced and Defoe succeeds in developing a tremendous empathy with his subject.When one realises that it based on the life's story of an actual man, this really hits home.Robinson Crusoe is a candidate for the earliest English novel ever written; nonethless, it is also a serious contender for one of the best novels.Our generation of microwave TV dinners might need our minds expanding before we can appreciate such a feast without complaining that it has no machine guns or aliens and that it pauses to express ideas and offer reflection on the inner thoughts of a real man, but I still claim that it is a truly enjoyable read and one which I would unhesitatingly recommend to anyone.

What makes this a polemic?As the action begins to unfold, the reader thinks that he is in for some moralising: "if only I had listened to my parents and been a good boy."Once Crusoe ends up on his island, things couldn't be more different.He falls in love with the Lord Jesus and follows him.He doesn't do this through a Catholic Priest or any institution, but by reading God's word.He goes from not even having much memory of the religion of his parents, to being a disciple of Christ, then an evangelist and pastor on his little colony.At the time of Defoe's, writing, the notion that one could come into relationship with the living God apart from the institutions of Rome was a bold claim indeed.

These days, the polemic probably works the opposite way.For many evangelicals the notion that there may be more to life in Christ than "me and my Bible (with a bit of help from church to help me get on with 'me and my Bible')" is anathema and smacks of traditionalism or even worse.The fact that one cannot be saved in isolation, the fact that the church isn't a vehicle to salvation but that the church is salvation (as argued, e.g., by Leithart in Against Christianity) is glimpsed in this novel.His walk with Christ doesn't properly unfold until it is part of his relationship with other Christians.

Read it.If you don't enjoy it, you're probably making do with entertainment that is doing little more than stunting your mind.

You all know the story...
but the key point here is that you will get an authoritative text, an interesting introduction, and a well-bound book for under ten bucks. Amazon can get it used for you for even less.

I teach an English literature course and I know how much my students are fleeced on certain "Anthologies". Instead, I have them buy individual paperbacks like this one. And they appreciate the savings. This edition of "Robinson Crusoe" will be appreciated by casual readers and students alike.

Rocco Dormarunno
The College of New Rochelle

The novel as parable
It is said of Robinson Crusoe that he in managing to survive for twenty - eight years on an isolated island in which he was for the most part alone provided a metaphor for Mankind itself in its solitary struggle to survive in this vast sea of a Universe. And that by his ingenuity and his resourcefulness he gave to all of us a demonstration of how we in living must learn to adapt and reconstruct our own world and lives as we go on.
And that thus in reading this work we are not reading the story of some strange shipwrecked figure from a few hundred years ago but rather reading the story of ourselves and our own struggle for survival.
In this it is not surprising that the sequel to the novel is considered far less compelling. And Crusoe's return after the death of his wife to the island he left is seen as somewhat of a failed adventure, especially as his faithful servant Friday was killed by savages in the process.
One is young and alone and can go far into distant worlds and survive. But when one is old and returns to those worlds seeking to find one's youth there one only finds those worlds have aged also- and the mirror they hold up to your face is not a flattering one.
I wonder now what it would be like to as a child set out in the world again to a distant land of adventure.
'Robinson Crusoe' lives in all of us, but perhaps most especially an really only to those who are young.

The Slow, Tedious Life and Workings of Robinson Crusoe
This might not be the wisest thing to do, but here goes.

Is "Robinson Crusoe" a classic? Yes. Iconic? Yes. Adventurous and well-placed? No.

We usually allow liberties for older novels. Common writing and language changes over time. However, Defoe's literary novel about a man stranded on a deserted island for 28 years seems to have problems beyond those liberties. Every section must be tediously described with every possible adjective that could fit the situation. The events of the book go far too slowly for this to be called an adventure, and while Defoe makes the time-transition seem natural for the most part (a difficult thing to do with stories that take place over years,) it doesn't make it any more interesting.

The character of Robinson is a personality, in that he has characteristics the reader can identify (though not necessarily identify with): he has goals that he doesn't know how to pursue, he's a bit oblivious to the workings of the world yet manages to make use of them while on his own, he's a whiner, a worker, a person who blames and takes blame, etc.

Unfortunately, while Robinson describes all his emotions to the reader, the words itself are very unemotional. I suppose this works if you look at the book as a re-writing of his account, but as a moving story... well, it fails to move you.

"Robinson Crusoe" is an important story. Not only is it one of the earlier novels in Europe's history, but the idea of being stranded on an island and having to make due for yourself without society or civilized luxuries is an important one that has made a wave throughout our culture, and has been regurgitated by various re-inventors plenty of times as well. However, as a story for itself, it isn't very engaging, and if it were up to me, I'd say Defoe could have used a stricter editor, to get his ideas and events across to the reader more smoothly without pushing them away from the book.

Have you ever lived a shipwrecked life?
Robinson Crusoe is a classic book about a shipwrecked man.The book recounts a man's experiences from young adulthood to late middle age - but even leaves room for a sequel. I found the book became more interesting as the story progressed.

Crusoe's life was filled with twists and turns, and perhaps a bit of luck that he survived so much.A great amount of details are given for how Crusoe tamed his land.Although the narrative was slightly repetitive at times and almost as if some details were added after-the-fact, the book does create the semblance of a real narrative - perhaps because of the repetitiveness and tacked-on details.

I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it.If the book seems a bit boring, keep going, it gets more interesting as it goes on.
... Read more

Book Description
On the evening of November 26, 1703, a hurricane from the north Atlantic hammered into Britain: it remains the worst storm the nation has ever experienced. Eyewitnesses saw cows thrown into trees and windmills ablaze from the friction of their whirling sails—and some 8,000 people lost their lives. For Defoe, bankrupt and just released from prison for his “seditious” writings, the storm struck during one of his bleakest moments. But it also furnished him with material for his first book, and in this powerful depiction of suffering and survival played out against a backdrop of natural devastation we can trace the outlines of Defoe’s later masterpieces, A Journal of the Plague Year and Robinson Crusoe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An hurricane in Britain ..strange but real
It was the evening of 26 November 1703 when a still powerful hurricane that crossed all the atlantic was about to hit Britain. Life was as usual althought climate had been very peculiar days before, with strong winds from the south. It was the time when the cathedral of St Paul was being reconstructed and it was the time of the very well known fiction writer, Daniel Defoe. In this, one of his first works, he provide a serie of accounts of the event from several sources, several stories of how this dreadful storm hit people's towns, houses and ships. 'Tis interesting to note that chimneys were the major killers in houses and that lots of trees were also lost, especially elms. People didn't blame climate change, too much C02 in the air or anything else, but God's fury.

What attracted me to this book was the very unique case, when an "extratropical hurricane" (not tropical), likely originated in the atlantic east of florida, diverted its path and managed to cross the whole Atlantic to reach Britain with such strong force, knowing that those waters in the north atlantic are very cold. A strange phenomena indeed, and an event printed in history by a great writer of the time, Daniel Defoe. Part of his life is depicted in the introduction chapter of the book and to tell you the truth, I'd really like to read his biography.

obscured by fiction
Until now Defoe's The Storm hasn't been in print as a single volume since the mid 19th century.The reason being that since the mid 19th century the public has preferred to see Defoe as a fictionist like Dickens, which has degraded his Journal of the Plague Year and consigned The Storm to oblivion.These works form a pair, both being about national disasters of historic significance.The difference in style is that The Storm consists of Defoe's own observations and research, and eyewitness accounts collected from around the nation, while A Journal of the Plague Year has the eyewitness account and Defoe's research blended together into one common narrative.No other journalist has ever done this (perhaps this is why the audacity of Jack Shephard appealed to him).But if you read the Plague Year as fiction it would be like trying to read The Storm as fiction.

Weather experts have always commented favourably on The Storm and it is legendary.Like the Plague Year, this book is great to read through and browse in afterwards as well - it is not a book to throw away.The publisher has retained the dynamics of Defoe's punctuation, but I wish that the print was bigger and blacker and more comnfortable to read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Robinson Crusoe redux
Defoe draws on the actual real life experience of Selkirk to describe the odyssey of Robinson Crusoe and his castaway existence on a desert island. Stevey and Stu Bruce compare the similarities.Their work justifies the pleasure of reading (or rereading) this challenging and exciting life adventure novel.

A Tale of Two Tales
This is a delightful pair of parallel tales, about the legend of Robinson Crusoe and Alexander Selkirk's time as a castaway, which inspired the novel.If you have ever wanted to travel to Robinson Crusoe island but couldn't find flights and acommodations to suit your budget, this book takes you there.

The real Robinson Crusoe
Despite the presence on my bookshelf, for many years, of my mother's copy of Defoe's book (kept for that reason and for the N.C. Wyeth illustrations), I cannot say that it was ever a favorite of mine.Certainly the heavy doses of sermonizing did not attract me as a youngster.

Reading it again, in this version annotated with notes comparing Defoe's fictional character's life with that of his real-life inspiration, Alexander Selkirk, I found more to enjoy.Though the sermonizing still detracts from the book for me, I am mature enough now to accept it in its context, and let myself be drawn into the story.The story of a man marooned on a desert island for "eight and twenty years, two months, and nineteen days", filled with all the details of how he sheltered himself, fed himself, entertained himself, how he filled his days, is told by Defoe in a surprisingly interesting fashion.I say "surprisingly" because, after all, the days must run together in much of a muchness, with little variety, in the constant struggle for survival.Yet Defoe manages to draw us in, and not a little of that is due to describing, not merely Crusoe's actions, but his thoughts.

Now the Bruces come along and give us, side by side with Defoe's text, glimpses into Selkirk's life, so that we may, as was often said in high school English class, "compare and contrast" the two.By doing so, they give us a glimpse into how a writer can take an event and transform it, keeping the nub of it but expanding on it, and using it to present a philosophy as well as a rousing good story.Indeed, if I have any criticism of this presentation, it is that I would have liked to have had a short biographical sketch of Selkirk at the beginning of the book.Though we are given plenty of information as we go along, a short bio would make it easier for those not familiar with his story to follow the notes.

I must add that the Bruces' descriptions of their visit to the actual island on which Selkirk was marooned, and of their researches in England and Scotland, were a definite bonus! ... Read more

Book Description
This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Hero or Villain
Paula Backscheider is widely regarded as Defoe's leading biographer on the strenghth of this book written eighteen years ago. It is both scholarly and contradictiory. Was Defoe the victim of religious persecution triumphing over adversity ot was he a man of poor character constantly on the run from the law? What we know now was that Defoe was illegitimate and brought up harshly on the margin of things.He was constantly on the run from the law. A homosexual, at a time when this was against the law, he sought the favours and protection of powerful men. He had eight children by three simultaneous wives and ended his life in poverty a refuge from the law. There is little of this in Backscheider's book. But what is there is scholarly and entertaining. ... Read more

Book Description
Who has not dreamed of life on an exotic isle, far away from civilization?Here is the novel which has inspired countless imitations by lesser writers, none of which equal the power and originality of Defoe's famous book. Robinson Crusoe, set ashore on an island after a terrible storm at sea, is forced to make do with only a knife, some tobacco, and a pipe. He learns how to build a canoe, make bread, and endure endless solitude.That is, until, twenty-four years later, when he confronts another human being. First published in 1719, Robinson Crusoe has been praised by such writers as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Samuel Johnson as one of the greatest novels in the English

language.

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) trained for the ministry, became a political journalist, and finally, to many, became "the father of the English novel." He is also the author of Moll Flanders.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Island Adventure Turned Spiritual Journey
This is a phenomenal and well-written classic novel and in my opinion, the best of all the "Island Adventure" books.Crusoe, having disavowed the advice of his father, becomes a sailor.The boat he takes from Brazil is destroyed in a storm, and Crusoe, who washes up on a supposedly deserted island, is the lone survivor.With no other choice but death, he becomes quickly aware of wilderness survival.After 15 years, he makes an amazing discovery--another human footprint in the sand.From there, the book takes even more amazing twists and turns.

The book certainly includes all the adventure, survival, and excitement a book like this should have, but the real story of Robinson Crusoe is not his island captivity, but his spiritual captivity and release.Like the sub-flooring in a house, the underlying structure of Crusoe's story is the spiritual journey he takes from a man encased in his own desires and agendas, with no thoughts of God, to a man broken and humbled, searching for God.It is a read you will not soon forget

Unhurriedly Pragmatic Adventure Story
In the literary world it is perhaps blasphemy to say a bad word against Daniel Defoe's most acclaimed novel. So here goes. The fact that the book was originally titled The Life And Strange Surprising Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe illustrates the major flaw in Defoe's literary form. Put simply, this would be a far more interesting and gripping story were it not so superfluously lengthy. The author makes a habit of repeating himself, especially when it comes to the act of dispatching kittens, which seems to be more of an obsession here than octogenarian ladies are to MatronsApron. It is difficult, you may think, to keep the subject matter fresh when describing the daily tribulations of a fellow stranded on an island for thirty years, without occasionally repeating yourself. True, but perhaps a straightforward solution to this diminutive quandary would be to simply truncate the duration of the story. There are some wonderfully intriguing and suspenseful moments, and some juicy action to boot, but sadly these are gratuitously diluted by lengthy descriptions of the unremarkable everyday goings on in Crusoe's life, and rather than serving to build up the suspense, they merely obstruct the reader's relationship with the more exciting parts of the story.
However, those with more patience than my ignorant self will find in Robinson Crusoe a delightful tale, which as well as being a fictional documentary of the most unusual thirty years of Mr. Crusoe's life, also has time to ponder upon philosophical and theological ideas, in a style that makes the reader feel as if they are involved in the conflicts between the functionalist and cynical thoughts going on in Crusoe's mind. It may not be a gripping white-knuckle adventure, being rather more leisurely and acquiescent, but it is still rather easy to see why Robinson Crusoe is regarded by some as one of the greatest novels of all time.

The original Survivor
Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe never lived with a number of other people on his deserted island, competing for food and immunity icons every week, a television camera constantly in his face. Crusoe lived his solitary life not for the entertainment of others, but to suffer the plight of the lonely.

Ignoring the advice of his wise father, who begged him to choose an honest life close to home, Crusoe heads to sea and almost dies three times before ending up on his deserted isle. He chooses a life of a plantation owner, hiring slaves to do much of his work. He chooses to ignore the teachings of God, and puts himself at the top of his own kingdom. On a journey to collect slaves to increase productivity on his plantation, his ship wrecks on the rocks of an island. All are lost but him. He saves some provisions from his ship, but has to work the land on his own to survive nearly three decades in solitude. It isn't until one lucky Friday that Crusoe's isolation ends and his purgatory is over.

Defoe's book is really a treatise on humility, of suffering for the sake of one's soul and finding one's place in the world. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Crusoe, alone for 400 pages, keeps our attention to the end.

This is a children's edition, put out by Simon and Schuster's Aladdin Paperbacks. What makes this a children's addition is the foreword by Avi, a children's author, and the reading guide at the end worded for children.

But there's little, really, to distinguish this edition from others. As a book for children, Robinson Crusoe needs more than a few simplistic questions and a wispy introduction. There is much in this book from another age that parents and children will want to discuss: racism, slavery, misuse of your fellow man, cannibalism, butchery. Defoe's readers believed that cannibals inhabited many of the unchartered islands of the southern hemisphere, and the children of today, though not stupid, will need guidance to disavow them of this same incorrect thought and others. We should not censor this book -- it's as much historical document as it is literature -- but parents should be aware of what their children are reading, read it with them, and help them understand the world as it was (and wasn't) 300 years ago.

I would have given this book 5 stars (Robinson Crusoe alone deserves 5 stars) except for the mistakes on the back cover --Unabridged spelled "Unabrdiged" -- and in Avi's foreword -- foreword spelled "foreward," comma splices, and a reference to Crusoe's 24 years on the island (he was on the island 28 years!). Errors creep into most books, but in a children's book a publisher should take more care to ensure that the information is accurate.

This is a beautiful edition, marred by errors and lacking in supporting reading. Any other edition would suffice. ... Read more

Book Description
Who has not dreamed of life on an exotic isle, far away from civilization?Here is the novel which has inspired countless imitations by lesser writers, none of which equal the power and originality of Defoe's famous book. Robinson Crusoe, set ashore on an island after a terrible storm at sea, is forced to make do with only a knife, some tobacco, and a pipe. He learns how to build a canoe, make bread, and endure endless solitude.That is, until, twenty-four years later, when he confronts another human being. First published in 1719, Robinson Crusoe has been praised by such writers as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Samuel Johnson as one of the greatest novels in the English

language.

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) trained for the ministry, became a political journalist, and finally, to many, became "the father of the English novel." He is also the author of Moll Flanders.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Island Adventure Turned Spiritual Journey
This is a phenomenal and well-written classic novel and in my opinion, the best of all the "Island Adventure" books.Crusoe, having disavowed the advice of his father, becomes a sailor.The boat he takes from Brazil is destroyed in a storm, and Crusoe, who washes up on a supposedly deserted island, is the lone survivor.With no other choice but death, he becomes quickly aware of wilderness survival.After 15 years, he makes an amazing discovery--another human footprint in the sand.From there, the book takes even more amazing twists and turns.

The book certainly includes all the adventure, survival, and excitement a book like this should have, but the real story of Robinson Crusoe is not his island captivity, but his spiritual captivity and release.Like the sub-flooring in a house, the underlying structure of Crusoe's story is the spiritual journey he takes from a man encased in his own desires and agendas, with no thoughts of God, to a man broken and humbled, searching for God.It is a read you will not soon forget

Unhurriedly Pragmatic Adventure Story
In the literary world it is perhaps blasphemy to say a bad word against Daniel Defoe's most acclaimed novel. So here goes. The fact that the book was originally titled The Life And Strange Surprising Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe illustrates the major flaw in Defoe's literary form. Put simply, this would be a far more interesting and gripping story were it not so superfluously lengthy. The author makes a habit of repeating himself, especially when it comes to the act of dispatching kittens, which seems to be more of an obsession here than octogenarian ladies are to MatronsApron. It is difficult, you may think, to keep the subject matter fresh when describing the daily tribulations of a fellow stranded on an island for thirty years, without occasionally repeating yourself. True, but perhaps a straightforward solution to this diminutive quandary would be to simply truncate the duration of the story. There are some wonderfully intriguing and suspenseful moments, and some juicy action to boot, but sadly these are gratuitously diluted by lengthy descriptions of the unremarkable everyday goings on in Crusoe's life, and rather than serving to build up the suspense, they merely obstruct the reader's relationship with the more exciting parts of the story.
However, those with more patience than my ignorant self will find in Robinson Crusoe a delightful tale, which as well as being a fictional documentary of the most unusual thirty years of Mr. Crusoe's life, also has time to ponder upon philosophical and theological ideas, in a style that makes the reader feel as if they are involved in the conflicts between the functionalist and cynical thoughts going on in Crusoe's mind. It may not be a gripping white-knuckle adventure, being rather more leisurely and acquiescent, but it is still rather easy to see why Robinson Crusoe is regarded by some as one of the greatest novels of all time.

The original Survivor
Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe never lived with a number of other people on his deserted island, competing for food and immunity icons every week, a television camera constantly in his face. Crusoe lived his solitary life not for the entertainment of others, but to suffer the plight of the lonely.

Ignoring the advice of his wise father, who begged him to choose an honest life close to home, Crusoe heads to sea and almost dies three times before ending up on his deserted isle. He chooses a life of a plantation owner, hiring slaves to do much of his work. He chooses to ignore the teachings of God, and puts himself at the top of his own kingdom. On a journey to collect slaves to increase productivity on his plantation, his ship wrecks on the rocks of an island. All are lost but him. He saves some provisions from his ship, but has to work the land on his own to survive nearly three decades in solitude. It isn't until one lucky Friday that Crusoe's isolation ends and his purgatory is over.

Defoe's book is really a treatise on humility, of suffering for the sake of one's soul and finding one's place in the world. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Crusoe, alone for 400 pages, keeps our attention to the end.

This is a children's edition, put out by Simon and Schuster's Aladdin Paperbacks. What makes this a children's addition is the foreword by Avi, a children's author, and the reading guide at the end worded for children.

But there's little, really, to distinguish this edition from others. As a book for children, Robinson Crusoe needs more than a few simplistic questions and a wispy introduction. There is much in this book from another age that parents and children will want to discuss: racism, slavery, misuse of your fellow man, cannibalism, butchery. Defoe's readers believed that cannibals inhabited many of the unchartered islands of the southern hemisphere, and the children of today, though not stupid, will need guidance to disavow them of this same incorrect thought and others. We should not censor this book -- it's as much historical document as it is literature -- but parents should be aware of what their children are reading, read it with them, and help them understand the world as it was (and wasn't) 300 years ago.

I would have given this book 5 stars (Robinson Crusoe alone deserves 5 stars) except for the mistakes on the back cover --Unabridged spelled "Unabrdiged" -- and in Avi's foreword -- foreword spelled "foreward," comma splices, and a reference to Crusoe's 24 years on the island (he was on the island 28 years!). Errors creep into most books, but in a children's book a publisher should take more care to ensure that the information is accurate.

This is a beautiful edition, marred by errors and lacking in supporting reading. Any other edition would suffice. ... Read more

Book Description
A JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR By Daniel Defoe, being observations or memorialsof the most remarkable occurrences, as well public as private, which happened in London during the last great visitation in 1665. Written by a Citizen who continued all the while in London. Never made public before ... Read more

Book Description
What was sex like in 1722 England and America? Moll Flanders is the story of a young lady raised in England by a foster mother with two faster sons. And then one day the elder son convinces Moll to "act like they were married" in bed. Moll is now a ‘ruined woman’. Moll has to work to protect her reputation. This however doesn’t stop her from have a number affairs. Written by Daniel Defoe who wrote Robinson Cursoe. The story of Moll Flanders is believed to be mostly true. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Doing what you have to do to make a go of it - and then some
This novel is about how the desperations brought on by poverty can lead not only to crime but to a moral vacuum within an individual. Roxana is left a penniless widow with five children at age 22. In order to survive she becomes the mistress of her landlord and eventually bears him a son. Greed replaces need, and she determines to become a "woman of Wealth." After the landlord is murdered in a robbery, she becomes the mistress of an even wealthier prince, refusing to marry him because that would mean having to share her wealth. Eventually, after guilt and repentance set in over her squandered life, she decides to marry the prince, but all does not turn out well: she moves to Holland with him where "I fell into a dreadful Course of Calamities ... and I was brought so low again." One of the most interesting characters in the book is Roxana's faithful maid Amy, who sticks by Roxana through all her tribulations, even once offering her body to the landlord when Roxana appears to be barren. But for the life of me, after reading the ending a dozen times, I can't tell for sure whether Amy actually kills Roxana's menacing daughter or merely threatens to do so. This edition retains all the original spellings and punctuations, so it's a little hard reading at first, but with a little perseverance the eye and mind adjust and the difficulty wanes. Worth the effort.

Little known book by Defoe
I love this book.It was as good as "Moll Flanders" and has a very happy and satisfying ending.

A Defoe fan
I read "Robinson Crusoe" as a young boy, and never forgot it (55 years later); then, as a mature adult I read "A Journal of the Plague Year" and "Moll Flanders", both of which were execellent reads; and a few days ago I finished "Roxana", so let me share a few thoughts about the book.
First off, when you read Defoe, it is essential to realize that you are dipping into the very beginnings of English literature. Anything that is three centuries removed from the present has to be put into its historical context in order to make sense of it, and contemporary values must be held in abeyance. If you are capable of doing that, you are in for a heck of a good story, as are all of the books mentioned above.
"Roxana" concerns the rise and fall (mostly rise) of a woman left destitute, along with her five children, by her fool of a husband. Circumstances eventually lead her to prostitution as a means of survival, and as luck would have it, her "gentlemen protectors" are uniformly wealthy, and by means of careful marshalling of her earnings Roxana becomes independently wealthy. But what she lacks is social status, which leads her to her final alliance with a Dutch merchant who knows nothing of her past.
Along the way, Roxana begets and abandons about nine offspring here and there(this being the days before birth control), and one of them, Susan, figures in the downfall of Roxana. This novel pays great attention to the psychological aspects of living a life that is generally condemned by society. Defoe shapes Roxana's psychological health around his own ethical views, and, as such, makes Roxana suffer for her choices in the long run. Thus, the novel does not end happily for its central character, an interesting fact, in that this is the only novel of Defoe's that does not end happily for the protagonist.
All told, "Roxana" is a great read. Defoe certainly reflects his ethical biases, but at the same time does a good job of objectively fleshing out charaters who forcefully express points of view that differ from his own.
For me, everything worked beautifully in the novel until the last paragraph, but that happens a lot in literature. ... Read more

Product Description
Illustrated ... Read more

Book Description
A comprehensive interpretation of one of Great Britain's most wide-ranging and prolific authors, this book examines Daniel Defoe's capacity to perceive fundamental historical change and long-term social process in light of his observations on liberty, property, trade, warfare, religion, and manners. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Unhurriedly Pragmatic Adventure Story
In the literary world it is perhaps blasphemy to say a bad word against Daniel Defoe's most acclaimed novel. So here goes. The fact that the book was originally titled The Life And Strange Surprising Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe illustrates the major flaw in Defoe's literary form. Put simply, this would be a far more interesting and gripping story were it not so superfluously lengthy. The author makes a habit of repeating himself, especially when it comes to the act of dispatching kittens, which seems to be more of an obsession here than octogenarian ladies are to MatronsApron. It is difficult, you may think, to keep the subject matter fresh when describing the daily tribulations of a fellow stranded on an island for thirty years, without occasionally repeating yourself. True, but perhaps a straightforward solution to this diminutive quandary would be to simply truncate the duration of the story. There are some wonderfully intriguing and suspenseful moments, and some juicy action to boot, but sadly these are gratuitously diluted by lengthy descriptions of the unremarkable everyday goings on in Crusoe's life, and rather than serving to build up the suspense, they merely obstruct the reader's relationship with the more exciting parts of the story.
However, those with more patience than my ignorant self will find in Robinson Crusoe a delightful tale, which as well as being a fictional documentary of the most unusual thirty years of Mr. Crusoe's life, also has time to ponder upon philosophical and theological ideas, in a style that makes the reader feel as if they are involved in the conflicts between the functionalist and cynical thoughts going on in Crusoe's mind. It may not be a gripping white-knuckle adventure, being rather more leisurely and acquiescent, but it is still rather easy to see why Robinson Crusoe is regarded by some as one of the greatest novels of all time. ... Read more