Saturday, August 14, 2010

Next on the menu...

...Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. I'm not sure if I indicated in an earlier post that before I set out and purchase any new material, I will read those Canon texts that I have not previously read which already reside on my bookshelves. This particular novel is part of a comparative collection entitled, "Nobel's Comparative Classics" (published in 1959) and houses Robinson Crusoe, The Raft by Robert Trumbull and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. I believe this book may have been permanently "borrowed" from the Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School library by my father, sometime in the late 1960's.

Defoe published Robinson Crusoe in 1719 after becoming fascinated by the story of Alexander Selkirk who spent years on a deserted island off of South America. I have never read this novel before and am curious to see if it hold my interest. I would certainly consider the Tom Hanks movie Cast Away (2000) to be paying a bit of homage to Defoe's Crusoe, and by the end of this novel will be sure to be able to tell if Robert Zemeckis "borrowed" his visual interpretation of William Broyles' screenplay, from Defoe. (Thank you to imbd.com for the necessary information about Cast Away.)

Until next time...

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