The Cambridge Companion to ‘Robinson Crusoe'
Cambridge Companions to Literature Series

An instant success in its own time, Daniel Defoe's The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe has for three centuries drawn readers to its archetypal hero, the man surviving alone on an island. This Companion begins by studying the eighteenth-century literary, historical and cultural contexts of Defoe's novel, exploring the reasons for its immense popularity in Britain and in its colonies in America and in the wider European world. Chapters from leading scholars discuss the social, economic and political dimensions of Crusoe's island story before examining the 'after life' of Robinson Crusoe, from the book's multitudinous translations to its cultural migrations and transformations into other media such as film and television. By considering Defoe's seminal work from a variety of critical perspectives, this book provides a full understanding of the perennial fascination with, and the enduring legacy of, both the book and its iconic hero.

Preface John Richetti; Part I. Robinson Crusoe and Daniel Defoe: The Eighteenth Century: 1. Genre, nature, Robinson Crusoe J. Paul Hunter; 2. Robinson Crusoe and the form of the new novel Rivka Swenson; 3. Robinson Crusoe and Defoe's career as a writer Maximillian E. Novak; 4. Robinson Crusoe: housekeeping, gentility and property Pat Rogers; 5. Robinson Crusoe and its sequels: the farther adventures and serious reflections George A. Starr; 6. Politics, history, and the Robinson Crusoe story Rebecca Bullard; Part II. Robinson Crusoe in the Wider World: 7. Innovation and imitation in the eighteenth-century Robinsonade Carl Fisher; 8. The Crusoe story: philosophical and psychological implications Helen Thompson; 9. Robinson Crusoe and travel writing: the transatlantic world Eve Tabor Bannet; 10. Robinson Crusoe and colonialism Dennis Todd; Part III. Robinson Crusoe over Three Hundred Years: 11. The iconic Crusoe: illustrations and images of Robinson Crusoe David Blewett; 12. Robinsonades for young people Jill Campbell; 13. Anti-Crusoes, alternative Crusoes: revisions of the island story in the twentieth century Ann Marie Fallon; 14. Robinson Crusoe in the screen age Robert Mayer.

John Richetti is A. M. Rosenthal Professor (Emeritus) at the University of Pennsylvania. His published books include: Popular Fiction Before Richardson: Narrative Patterns 1700–1739 (1969); Defoe's Narratives: Situations and Structures (1975); The Life of Daniel Defoe: A Critical Biography (2005); and A History of British Eighteenth-Century Literature (2017). He has also edited two Cambridge Companions, The Eighteenth-Century English Novel (Cambridge, 1996) and Daniel Defoe (Cambridge, 2009), as well as The Cambridge History of English Literature, 1660–1780 (Cambridge, 2005).