Robinson Crusoe

                                                                          

Robinson Crusoe is one of those books everybody knows about but probably hasn't read. It's arguably the prototype of cast-away on a deserted island fiction and has spawned a multitude of offspring--Swiss Family Robinson, Lost in Space, The Martian, Castaway . . . to mention a few. And then there are all those cartoons from The New Yorker.

                                                   Like so many, I had never read Defoe's 1719 work in its entirety. But now a copy turned up in my recent book purging/reorganization efforts and now I have.

It's a terrific account of clever survival. Crusoe is on the island some twenty-six years and in that times builds houses, makes pottery, gardens, captures and tames goats, weaves baskets, and makes for himself a rather fine little kingdom.

I have to admit to skimming bits. There's a lot of moral reflection--Crusoe went to sea against the wishes of his parents and remained there despite several close calls before the final catastrophe that stranded him. There's lots of philosophizing about the nature of Good and Evil, including one rather good point made by Friday, the 'savage' Crusoe rescued from cannibals. 

Crusoe has been telling Friday about the devil being God's enemy, and Friday asks if God is stronger than the devil.

Oh, yes, says Crusoe, God is stronger.

Then Friday asks, ". . .why God no kill the devil, so make him no more do wicked?"

Crusoe is at a loss for a good answer and (much like some politicians) "diverted the present discourse . . . rising up hastily as upon some sudden occasion of going out; then sending him for something a good way off. . ."

Some things never change.