ORIGINS OF MODERNITY

literature

Defoe, Daniel (1661?-1731)
The life and strange surprising adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, mariner…
5th ed.
London : Printed for W. Taylor, 1720.

Defoe is considered the founder of the English novel. He was a prolific writer who addressed politics, religion, including witchcraft, and fiction. He worked as a journalist and as a kind of intelligence agent for the Whig government. Robinson Crusoe is his greatest work. Modelled on travel narratives and based on the experiences of one William Selkirk, it captured the minds of the English with Crusoe's enterprise and adventures and above all his meeting with the native he named Friday.

"One day, about noon, going towards my boat, I was exceedingly surprised with the print of a man's naked foot on the shore, which was very plain to be seen on the sand."