Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Hurrah! Hope you continue to enjoy it. The style of writing is a little ponderous in places and, at times, the way Robinson Crusoe treats others is questionable by today's sensibilities. However, read with an awareness of historical context it's a very moving story overall - quite haunting.

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Re: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Post by Yak »

I read it in my late teens and, to be honest, I found it somewhat dull. I also wasn't terribly convinced by some bits though I won't say which as I don't want to spoil it for Philip :).
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Re: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Post by Aurélien »

And to add another dimension to your reading of 'Robinson Crusoe', the links for two old illustrations may be found here, and here.

Happy reading PM.
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Re: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Post by Wolfgang »

Moonraker wrote: I can just about manage the fan-fic chapters on Keith's site, but could never read a whole novel on the screen. The only option is to print it off, but I think that would work out more expensive than buying the book!
I personally don't mind reading on screen, at least as long as I don't have a cold, but a solid copy is to prefer. And you can surely reduce the costs of printing by adjusting the printing options - if you can edit the source text you can change font size and general layout. If you have a PDF-file you can't alter yourself, there are tools which enable you to print two or four pages on one page. To give you an example - I provided the yahoo-group with a PDF-file of "Five on the forbidden island", without illustrations and what I consider reader-friendly layout 44 pages. I personally prefer another font size and a different font, it's 25 pages then, with illustrations 28. So the advantage of e-scripts is adjusting them to your own needs.
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Re: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Post by Billy Farmer »

I can remember reading Robinson Crusoe, a long time ago, can't remember now, what I thought of the Book.

Daniel Defoe, once visited my home town, of Aylsham, Norfolk.
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Re: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Post by number 6 »

I've never got round to reading the book, but I can remember watching the tv adaptation in the mid to late 70's! I think I was about 10. I loved the idea of being cast ashore on a desert island. It really captured my imagination at the time. :D
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Re: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Post by Lucky Star »

It's a terrific book which I've read several times. I always find myself totally empathising with Crusoe as he attempts to make his way in his limited new world.
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Re: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Post by Soenke Rahn »

I love that idea that Robinson built a summer house in the centre of the isle .... and his summer holiday in it. :D Strange, that I have never seen a movie with that detail. :D The last adventure in the Spanish? Mountains with Friday, I hope I have it right in my mind, it is 20-30 years ago that I read it, was also interesting. Mmmm, must read it again. :-)
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Re: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Post by Machupicchu14 »

Lucky Star wrote:It's a terrific book which I've read several times. I always find myself totally empathising with Crusoe as he attempts to make his way in his limited new world.
The way I feel as well when reading that book. :D
My favourite genres are probably adventure, war, and mystery, that's why I love these kind of books. But Robinson Crusoe is... simply smashing :wink:
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Re: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Post by Chrissie777 »

I watched "Robinson Crusoe" in 1964 on German TV, it was a 4 parts French-German co-production with Robert Hoffmann playing Crusoe. I was so thrilled by the story that my parents gave me a children's version of Defoe's book "Robinson Crusoe" on my birthday.

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Loved the book from the moment on when Crusoe was ship-wrecked and and on the island.
Over the next decades I watched every Robinson Crusoe movies I could find (the one by Luis Bunuel is very good).

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044386/reference" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My favorite til this day is the TV version in 4 parts with Robert Hoffmann, even though it's in black & white and has long scenes (whereas today it's all about too short scenes in TV productions). But I find the long scenes very soothing and relaxing. Plus the French score/soundtrack is very beautiful.

In the 1990's I finally tried to read the whole Robinson Crusoe novel (the one from the 1960's was written for children and shortened), but found the whole story before he gets ship-wrecked rather boring, so I sold the book on a flea market.
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Re: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Post by timv »

I saw the 1960s TV series of Robinson Crusoe around 1966, and it was regularly repeated on UK television well into the 1970s by which time the music was audibly becoming rather scratchy! I loved it, and was surprised to find when I first read the full book as a teenager that Crusoe is shipwrecked for a full 28 years not 4 as in the TV series. The book has an interesting background, in that although the inspiration is generally assumed to be the marooning of Scots sailor Alexander Selkirk on the E pacific island of Juan Fernandez in the 1700s Defoe (a pioneering political journalist in the fevered world of 1690s - 1700s English politics, the era of current film 'The Favourite') set the island off Venezuela near the mouth of the R Orinoco (Atlantic). It was to some extent a commentary on then British imperial colonial ventures in the region, where the British were raiding and settling Spanish territory - hence the Catholic Spaniards being 'baddies' in the book who Crusoe the Protestant Englishman is keen to avoid.
Once Crusoe is picked up by a British ship, he leaves a small 'colony' of captured and pardoned mutineers from the ship (and Spaniards who he rescued from cannibals earlier) on the island.

There is an even more obscure sequel to the book, now forgotten, where after leaving the island Crusoe and Friday go off exloring around the world. At one point Crusoe ends up as an English merchant on a trade mission to Peking in China.
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Re: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Post by Chrissie777 »

timv wrote:... the inspiration is generally assumed to be the marooning of Scots sailor Alexander Selkirk on the E pacific island of Juan Fernandez in the 1700s Defoe (a pioneering political journalist in the fevered world of 1690s - 1700s English politics, the era of current film 'The Favourite') set the island off Venezuela near the mouth of the R Orinoco (Atlantic). It was to some extent a commentary on then British imperial colonial ventures in the region, where the British were raiding and settling Spanish territory - hence the Catholic Spaniards being 'baddies' in the book who Crusoe the Protestant Englishman is keen to avoid.
Tim, I think the island is called Mas a Tierra.
A Danish children's books author, Arne Falk Roenne, wrote two books which I have. One explores the isle of Monte-Cristo in Italy and the other book Mas a Tierra. He went there by plane and then by boat in order to explore Alexander Selkirk's island.
I read them many years ago and ordered both books used at amazon.de, they are on my TBR mountain.
Don't know if they ever were translated into English?
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