30 Facts About Robinson Crusoe

The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a travelogue of true incidents.

Robinson Crusoe reads the Bible and becomes religious, thanking God for his fate in which nothing is missing but human society.

Robinson Crusoe learns that his family believed him dead; as a result, he was left nothing in his father's will.

Robinson Crusoe departs for Lisbon to reclaim the profits of his estate in Brazil, which has granted him much wealth.

Robinson Crusoe was published in 1719 during the Enlightenment period of the 18th century.

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At the beginning of the book, Robinson Crusoe is concerned with sailing away from home, whereupon he meets violent storms at sea.

However, when Robinson Crusoe survives the storm, he decides to keep sailing and notes that he could not fulfill the promises he had made during his turmoil.

Robinson Crusoe turns to his animals, such as his parrot, to talk to but misses human contact.

Robinson Crusoe turns to God during his time of turmoil in search of solace and guidance.

Robinson Crusoe retrieves a Bible from a ship that was washed along the shore and begins to memorize verses.

Therefore, during the time in which Robinson Crusoe was shipwrecked, he became very religious and often would turn to God for help.

When Robinson Crusoe meets his servant Friday, he begins to teach him scripture and about Christianity.

Robinson Crusoe's purpose is to convert Friday into being a Christian and to his values and beliefs.

Lynne W Hinojosa has argued that throughout the novel Crusoe interprets scripture in a way that "[s]cripture never has ramifications beyond his own needs and situations" .

Apparently written in six months or less, Robinson Crusoe was a publishing phenomenon.

Robinson Crusoe had no access to fresh water and lived off the blood and flesh of sea turtles and birds.

Robinson Crusoe was quite a celebrity when he returned to Europe; before passing away, he recorded the hardships suffered in documents that show the endless anguish and suffering, the product of absolute abandonment to his fate, now held in the General Archive of the Indies, in Seville.

Secord analyses the composition of Robinson Crusoe and gives a list of possible sources of the story, rejecting the common theory that the story of Selkirk is Defoe's only source.

Several times in the novel Robinson Crusoe refers to himself as the "king" of the island, whilst the captain describes him as the "governor" to the mutineers.

Robinson Crusoe begins as a wanderer, aimless on a sea he does not understand, and ends as a pilgrim, crossing a final mountain to enter the promised land.

The book tells the story of how Robinson Crusoe becomes closer to God, not through listening to sermons in a church but through spending time alone amongst nature with only a Bible to read.

In classical, neoclassical and Austrian economics, Robinson Crusoe is regularly used to illustrate the theory of production and choice in the absence of trade, money, and prices.

Robinson Crusoe must allocate effort between production and leisure and must choose between alternative production possibilities to meet his needs.

Critic M E Novak supports the connection between the religious and economic themes within Robinson Crusoe, citing Defoe's religious ideology as the influence for his portrayal of Crusoe's economic ideals, and his support of the individual.

Early critics, such as Robert Louis Stevenson, admired it, saying that the footprint scene in Robinson Crusoe was one of the four greatest in English literature and most unforgettable; more prosaically, Wesley Vernon has seen the origins of forensic podiatry in this episode.

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Robinson Crusoe usually referred to his servant as "my man Friday", from which the term "Man Friday" originated.

Robinson Crusoe marked the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre.

In Rousseau's view, Emile needs to imitate Robinson Crusoe's experience, allowing necessity to determine what is to be learned and accomplished.

Robinson Crusoe considers The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe the finest book ever written, reads it over and over again, and considers a man but poorly read if he had happened not to read the book.

Pantomime version of Robinson Crusoe was staged at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1796, with Joseph Grimaldi as Pierrot in the harlequinade.