Robinson Crusoe

Francis Cotes, Edward Knowles, c. 1740

By Daniel Defoe, New York, The Modern Library, 2001

I really can't believe this is the same author that wrote Roxana and Moll Flanders.  Defoe's tone is sympathetic and humane here.  When Robinson Crusoe is marooned on the island, he behaves like an industrious, pragmatic member of the middle class and slowly recreates his world.  He builds shelter, hunts for food, domesticates animals, builds a ship, etc.  A very interesting comment on gender, class, empire and race.  What startled me is how this is a Protestant tale par execellence.