Robinson Crusoe

This edition of Robinson Crusoe contains a retold novel, an introduction, notes on the author, notes on the background when the book was written and the book's themes, a glossary, and a free CD (running time 2 hours). The CD is read slowly and clearly to aid comprehension. It is suitable for students, schools, ELT, ESOL. Robinson Crusoe leaves his family for sea adventures but after a shipwreck is stranded on a desert island in the Caribbean for 28 years. Defoe's novel was published in 1719 but was set in the 1680s at the time of naval exploration, and the beginnings of slavery. Crusoe salvages some supplies from the wrecked ship. As the days go by, he builds a fort and a small area for animals. He gathers fruit, grows crops, keeps goats, hunts, and protects his 'castle'. In his diaries he records his progress. He also records how he reads the Bible and becomes religious. After more than 20 years on the island, Crusoe encounters cannibals, which represent the first human contact he's had since being shipwrecked. He finds a footprint, which he runs away from, but then rescues a man he calls Friday from cannibals. Friday becomes his servant. Robinson finally makes an escape when a ship of mutineers arrives on the island. Robinson and his companions help the British captain to take back control of the ship. Robinson arrives home in England to find he is wealthy after an absence of 35 years. The story, told in a journalistic way because of the way he narrates his life and records all the facts, is about how a lonely human can survive alone when hardship comes. It is also a story of how a man can create his own reality out a wilderness on a desert island. Robinson Crusoe is an important figure in literature, and his name is synonymous with a lonely man living alone on a desert island and surviving.