For more than two hundred years, Robinson Crusoe’s story was encountered by generations of readers as one text in two parts, such that the second novel, The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, constituted a clear continuation of the protagonist’s eventful life. In the first part of this sequel, Crusoe returns to his island to advise and protect a diverse community of castaways, but in the second part his compulsion to wander takes him on adventure-packed travels through Africa, Asia, and Europe.
This new Broadview Edition makes the novel available to students, scholars, and general readers, accompanied by a full critical introduction, helpfully annotated text, and historical appendices.
Comments
“For most of its published history, the novel we know as Robinson Crusoe appeared with this continuation, produced by Defoe within four months of his original. The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe was originally conceived—and received—as the completion of Crusoe’s story. But reading tastes change. The first part of Defoe’s fiction enjoyed standalone fame for most of the twentieth century, while this second part fell into relative obscurity. In this excellent volume, complete with introduction, glossaries, and excerpts from Defoe’s letters and essays, editors John Richetti and Rivka Swenson have given us an edition of The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe that allows both college classes and the general reader to appreciate the scope of Defoe’s original design for his character. We couldn’t ask for better guides to help navigate the second part of Crusoe’s story.” — Glynis Ridley, University of Louisville
“Richetti and Swenson describe their edition of The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe as a ‘teaching edition,’ but it is much more than that. With its meticulous glossaries—of ‘Unusual or Archaic Terms,’ ‘Nautical and Military Terms,’ and ‘Geographical Locations’—and ample yet concise notes—on various early editions of the novel, references to the first and now more famous volume (Robinson Crusoe), themes that resonate with Defoe’s other writing, historical events, and more—this edition will be of use to anyone from the casual reader to the advanced scholar. A chronology of carefully selected events in and relevant to Defoe’s life and two appendices, one on ‘Defoe on National Unity,’ the other on ‘Defoe on Global Trade,’ themes they foreground in the introduction, round out this well-priced edition.” — Melissa Free, Arizona State University
