Universidad de Navarra

18.10.2013

CLASSIC CHARACTERS IN ENGLISH AND AMERICAN

LITERATURE

Colonialism and its aftermath. Defoe's Robinson Crusoe

The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an uninhabited 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 deliver’d by Pyrates

Full title:

Daniel Defoe (cr. 1660-1731)

Well educated, Married at 24Adventurer, Political activist (wrote political treaties). Participated in the 1685 revolt against James II.1701 – March in parliament under King WilliamEngaged in commerce.Wrote many books, pamphlets and journalism about economy and trade.Wrote Robinson Crusoe at the age of 60 in 1719, probably based on the story of Alexander Selkirk. The novel was an immediate success.

The island

“In a word, as my life was a life of sorrow one way, so it was a life of mercy another;”

“hunger will tame a lion!” “How strange a chequer-work of Providence is

the life of man! and by what secret different springs are the affections hurried about, as different circumstances present! To-day we love what to-morrow we hate; to-day we seek what to-morrow we shun; to-day we desire what to-morrow we fear, nay, even tremble at the apprehensions of.”

“I taught him to say Master, and then let him know, that was to be my name;”

Famous Quotes

Is individuality the invention of the bourgeoisie?The common man manages to yield natureStruggle : both physical and spiritual Destiny

and defianceAcceptance Awareness, introspection The just War Encounter of cultural and theological distinctionWhat about the social critics:

Main themes:

The castaway (naufrago), Crusoe is more the kind of Guerrero, Cabeza de Vaca or Landa?

The 3 planes: axiologic, praxeologic and epistemic.The historiography and the representation of the

other culture.Different assimilation and imitation politics

(mimic).PerspectivismReligiosity more than religion.Religious anthropology.An egalitarian religion

(paradoxical term)

T. Todorov

Questioning the neutrality of the West/occident discourse.

Objectivity of the contact between the two.No such thing as neutral knowledge.The oriental discourse is a form of

strategyrealism, reality-like principles to

develop the sense of an essenceOne always relates to the Other

(otherness) in his proper terms

Eduard Said, Orientalism

HybridityThere are two ontological and epistemological entities,

the west and the east.We need to displace the West to be in a position where

not all the power is in its hands.Uses the mirror self identity notion.Méconnaissance - A constant process of identification

and un-identification.The Freudian Fetish.There is a difference but also a resemblance.Systematic stereotype & prejudice.Articulation of the colonial discourse and language.Difference between metonymy and metaphor.Dichotomy and ambivalence.

Homi Bhabha

In every situation there is a power relationship

Animals The footprint - turning pointThe crossThe Governor of the island.

symbols / imagery / metaphors

The spirit of Colonialism Any physical quest is also a spiritual one

GovernorshipPerseveranceEconomyLe bon sauvage

Motifs:

Explain the role of emotions in the novel.Why Crusoe decides to go back to the island?We are told many mundane details about his

thoughts and doing yet Crusoe never expresses the need for a family, why?

Write about your experience encountering the Other.

Task

Next week

Gatsby and the American Dream I

To read:- Eco, Umberto, Interpretation and overinterpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.