The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe who lived twenty eight years all alone in a un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but Himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely delivered by Pirates, is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1719 and sometimes regarded as the first novel in English. The book is a fictional autobiography of the title character, an English castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Venezuela, encountering Native Americans, captives, and mutineers before being rescued. This device, presenting an account of supposedly factual events, is known as a 'false document' and gives a realistic frame story.
The original title says it all: 'The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, who was Born in Newgate, and during a Life of continue'd Variety for Three-score Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her own Brother), Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest, and died a Penitent.' So begins Moll Flanders, Daniel Defoe’s honest portrayal of one woman’s
struggle for economic survival in an unsympathetic world. Told with
uncompromising directness and an extraordinary empathy, it is, as Virginia Woolf
once claimed, ‘one of the few English novels we can call indisputably great’.
Three lively retellings of Daniel Defoe's classic novels, plus two bonus programmes about his extraordinary life and far-reaching influence.
Robinson Crusoe and his Farther Adventures
An imaginative blend of the famous castaway tale and its lesser-known sequel, this thrilling drama sees Crusoe setting sail for the far north. Facing danger in the Siberian wastes, he keeps terror at bay by telling his companions campfire tales of his many adventures on his beloved island. Starring Tim McInnerney as Crusoe.
Moll Flanders
When Daniel Defoe meets Elizabeth Atkins in Newgate jail, she recounts her stranger-than-fiction story of a rags-to-riches life that took her from prostitution to prosperity - but culminated in destitution. Inspired, Defoe mixes fact and fiction to re-invent her as one of his most engaging characters: Moll Flanders. Starring Ben Miles as Defoe and Jessica Hynes as Elizabeth Atkins.
A Journal of the Plague Year
Writing a fictional journal of the Great Plague of 1665, Defoe soon comes to be haunted by the characters he is conjuring. Starring Ben Miles as Defoe.
This exciting new collection of reinvented tales will also include two bonus programmes about Daniel Defoe himself:
Defoe: Merchant, Writer, Convict, Spy by Philip Palmer - A biographical drama about Defoe's life, starring Ben Miles as Defoe and Niamh Cusack as his wife Mary.
Defoe: The Facts and Fictions - A documentary by Mark Lawson, exploring the far-reaching influence of the pioneering author.
Daniel Defoe relates the classic tale of Robinson Crusoe, an English sailor marooned on a desert island for nearly thirty years, as he struggles to survive his extraordinary circumstances.
When his ship is wrecked in a storm, Robinson Crusoe finds himself stranded on a desert island with no one to help him and no chance of rescue. Scared and alone, he tries to make a life for himself: building shelters, hunting food, taming animals, crafting boats and making clothes. But just as his life appears to be settled, he sees someone else's footprint on the beach and a different struggle for survival begins, this time against cannibals and pirates.
Roy McMillan combines an abridged version of Defoe's novel with his own helpful explanations to retell the story for younger listeners.d
Captured by pirates, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe makes his break in a small boat and undergoes desperate adventures before winning his way back to civilization. But Crusoe proves willing to chance his luck a second time when, after sweating his way to prosperity as a planter in Brazil, he undertakes another voyage and is marooned on a small island off South America. With the supplies he's able to salvage from the wrecked ship, Crusoe eventually builds a fort and creates a kingdom for himself by taming animals, gathering fruit, growing crops, and hunting, and spends more than two decades in isolation before acquiring a sidekick-the man Friday.
"I presume we need make no Apology for giving the Name of a History to the following Sheets, though they contain nothing but the Actions of a Parcel of Robbers." -from the book
This work was published in 1724 under the pseudonym Captain Charles Johnson by an unknown British author, usually assumed to be Daniel DeFoe. This work is the prime source for the biographies of many well-known pirates of that era and shaped the popular notions about pirates of the day. Included are Blackbeard, Black Bart, Jolly Roger, Anne Bonny (aka Anne Bonn), Edward Teach, Henry Avery, Mary Read, and many more.
"This collection of brief biographies reads like a Who's Who? of piracy...The book that launched a thousand pirate stories...A must-read for armchair swashbucklers."-Amazon.com, editorial review
When his ship is wrecked in a storm, Robinson Crusoe finds himself stranded on a desert island with no one to help him and no chance of rescue. Scared and alone, he tries to make a life for himself: building shelters, hunting food, taming animals, crafting boats and making clothes. But just as his life appears to be settled, he sees someone else's footprint on the beach and a different struggle for survival begins, this time against cannibals and pirates.
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.
After surviving a terrible shipwreck, Robinson Crusoe discovers he is the only human on an island far from any shipping routes or rescue. At first he is devastated, but slowly, with patience and imagination, he transforms his island into a tropical paradise. For twenty-four years he lives with no human companionship - until one fateful day, when he discovers he is not alone...
Lightly abridged for Puffin Classics.
Robinson Crusoe is the classic tale about one man's lust for adventure. Crusoe leaves his parents and hometown for the open sea in the year 1651. But the ocean can be unforgiving and Crusoe, unfortunately, learns this the hard way. Through a series of wild events he ends up shipwrecked on a shore in South America, being forced to salvage what he can in order to survive. Overcoming his despair, Crusoe begins a new life on this island searching for meaning and eventually finding redemption. This tale of adventure into the unknown during a time of exploration will find listeners on the edge of their seat as Crusoe encounters multiple shipwrecks, pirates, and even cannibals on his wild journey.
Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719, was Defoe's first novel and survives as his best-known work. Loosely based on a true account of a Scottish sailor-Alexander Selkirk-it is a tale of one man's fall from grace and progress to redemption. The account of Crusoe's life, scratched out with rationed indigo ink on a dwindling supply of paper salvaged from the hull of a wrecked ship, speaks eloquently of the tenacity and ingenuity of the human spirit.
Son of a middle-class Englishman, Robinson Crusoe takes to the sea to find adventure. And find it he does when on one of his voyages he is shipwrecked on a deserted South American island for thirty-five years. After scavenging his broken ship for useful items, he had only his skills and ingenuity to keep him alive as there was to be no one else on the island for the next twenty-four years. In the middle of that twenty-fourth year he rescued a native about to be eaten by cannibals who were using his island for a place of feasting. Crusoe named this man Friday, after the day of his rescue. Friday became his faithful servant and friend, even returning with him to England after their deliverance by an English ship. Listeners will enjoy Crusoe's determination for survival against all odds and admire the spirituality that gave him the strength to survive. A hero through the ages, he richly deserves the admiration that has endured over three centuries.
