Introduction

Against his father's advice Robinson Crusoe goes to sea in search of adventure, and after many misfortunes his ship is wrecked in a storm and he alone survives, cast up on a desert island. He salvages food, tools and guns from the wreck, builds himself a dwelling, keeps a calendar, learns to grow corn and bake bread, tame goats and make pots and a canoe, and in his solitude takes up the Bible again and reflects on his life. After more than twenty years on the island he rescues a young native from cannibals and, since it is a Friday, names him Friday, teaching him English and Christianity. After twenty-eight years he is at last rescued and returns to England. Written in the first person with diary-like detail, it is regarded as the first realist novel in English, and as a parable of man mastering nature by labour and reason.