It’s a paradox, but “Robinson Crusoe,” thanks to children's retelling Most people knew Korney Chukovsky Soviet people- this is a completely different book than the one Defoe wrote. And for this book to become completely different, one thing was enough - to remove God from it.
In the retelling, which appeared in 1935, the book not only loses its Christian content, does not just turn into another superficial adventure novel, but also acquires a very clear ideological message: a person can achieve anything on his own, thanks to his mind, with the help of science and technology he can handle anyone hopeless situation, and he doesn’t need any God for this.
Although it will become obvious to anyone who reads Defoe’s original text: without constant prayer, without mental communication with God (even such a short one, in a Protestant format, without worship, without church sacraments), Robinson would quickly go crazy. But with God, man is not alone even in the most extreme circumstances. Moreover, this is not just the author’s idea - it is confirmed by real life. After all
Robinson's prototype, Alexander Selkirk, who spent four years on a desert island, actually turned to faith, really prayed, and this prayer helped him maintain his sanity.
From the prototype, Defoe took not only the external situation, but also a means to overcome the horror of loneliness - turning to God.
At the same time, both Defoe and his hero have an ambiguous view of the teachings of Christ, to put it mildly. They professed Calvinism in one of its variations. That is, they believed in a kind of predestination: if you are a person initially blessed from above, then you are lucky, everything works out for you, but unsuccessful people (and even nations!) should strongly doubt their ability to be saved at all. For us, Orthodox Christians, such views are very far from the essence of the Good News.
Of course, we can talk about such theological and moral problems of Robinson Crusoe when we know how and what Defoe actually wrote his novel about. But in our country, as already mentioned, it was not always easy or even possible to find out.
To fill in the most noticeable gaps in our understanding of Robinson Crusoe, Thomas asked us to talk in detail about the novel and its authorViktor Simakov, candidate filological sciences, teacher of Russian language and literature at school No. 1315 (Moscow).
Twice a lie - or effective PR
Daniel Defoe seems, at first glance, to be the author of one great book - Robinson Crusoe. Taking a closer look, we will understand that this is not entirely true: in about five years (1719–1724), he published about a dozen fiction books one after another, important in their own way: for example, “Roxana” (1724) became popular long years a model of a criminal novel, and “Diary of a Plague Year” (1722) influenced the work of García Márquez. And yet “Robinson Crusoe”, like “Odyssey”, “ The Divine Comedy", "Don Quixote" - this is a completely different level of fame and the basis for long cultural reflection. Robinson became a myth, a titan, eternally in art.
On April 25, 1719, a book with a verbose title appeared in London bookstores - “The Life, Extraordinary and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a sailor from York, who lived for 28 years in all alone on an uninhabited island off the coast of America near the mouth of the Orinoco River, where he was thrown by a shipwreck, during which the entire crew of the ship, except him, died, with an account of his unexpected release by pirates; written by himself." The original English title has 65 words. This title is also a sensible annotation for the book: what reader wouldn’t buy it if on the cover there is America and pirates, adventures and a shipwreck, a river with a mysterious name and an uninhabited island. And also a small lie: in the twenty-fourth year, “complete loneliness” ended, Friday appeared.
The second lie is more serious: Robinson Crusoe did not write the book himself, he is a figment of the imagination of the author, who deliberately did not mention himself on the cover of the book. For the sake of good sales, he released fiction ( fiction) for non-fiction (that is, documentary), stylizing the novel as a memoir. The calculation worked, the circulation was sold out instantly, although the book cost five shillings - the same as a gentleman's formal suit.
Robinson in Russian snows
Already in August of the same year, along with the fourth printing of the novel, Defoe released a sequel - “The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe...” (then again there are a lot of words), also without mentioning the author and also in the form of memoirs. This book was about trip around the world an aged Robinson through the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, China and snow-covered Russia, about a new visit to the island and the death of Friday in Madagascar. And after some time, in 1720, a real non-fiction about Robinson Crusoe was published - a book of essays on different topics, containing, among other things, a description of Robinson’s vision of the angelic world. In the wake of the popularity of the first book, these two also sold well. In the field of book marketing, Defoe had no equal at that time.
Engraving. Jean Granville
One can only be amazed at the ease with which the writer imitates the easy artlessness of a diary style, despite the fact that he writes at a frantic pace. In 1719, three of his new books were published, including two volumes about Robinson, and in 1720 - four. Some of them are truly documentary prose, the other part are pseudo-memoirs, which are now usually called novels.
Is this a novel?
It is impossible to talk about the genre of the novel in the sense in which we now mean this word at the beginning of the 18th century. During this period in England there was a process of merging different genre formations (“ true story", "travel", "book", "biography", "description", "narration", "romance" and others) into a single concept of the novel genre and the idea of its independent value gradually emerges. However, the word novel is rarely used in the 18th century, and its meaning is still narrow - it’s just a short love story.
Engraving. Jean Granville
Defoe did not position any of his novels as novels, but over and over again used the same marketing ploy - he released fake memoirs without indicating the name of the real author, believing that non-fiction is much more interesting than fiction. The Frenchman Gacien de Courtille de Sandra (“Memoirs of Messire d’Artagnan”, 1700) became famous a little earlier for such pseudo-memoirs - also with long titles. Jonathan Swift, soon after Defoe, took advantage of the same opportunity in “Gulliver’s Travels” (1726–1727), stylized as a diary: although the book described events much more fantastic than Defoe’s, even here there were readers who took the narrator at his word.
Defoe's fake memoirs played a key role in the development of the novel genre. In “Robinson Crusoe,” Defoe proposed a plot that was not just filled with adventure, but kept the reader in suspense (soon in the same England the term “suspense” would be proposed). In addition, the narrative was quite integral - with a clear plot, consistent development of action and a convincing denouement. At that time this was rather rare. For example, the second book about Robinson, alas, could not boast of such integrity.
Where did Robinson come from?
The plot of "Robinson Crusoe" lay on prepared ground. During Defoe's lifetime, the story of the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was widely known, who, after a quarrel with his captain, spent just over four years on the island of Mas a Tierra in the Pacific Ocean, 640 km from the coast of Chile (now this island is called Robinson Crusoe). Returning to England, he repeatedly spoke in pubs about his adventures and eventually became the hero of a sensational essay by Richard Steele (who, in particular, noted that Selkirk was a good storyteller). Taking a closer look at the history of Selkirk, Defoe, however, replaced the island in the Pacific Ocean with an island in the Caribbean Sea, since there was much more information about this region in the sources available to him.
Engraving. Jean Granville
The second probable source of the plot is “The Tale of Haya, son of Yakzan...” by the 12th century Arab author Ibn Tufail. This philosophical novel(again, as far as this term can be applied to a medieval Arabic book) about a hero who has lived on an island since infancy. Either he was sent by his sinning mother across the sea in a chest and thrown onto the island (an obvious allusion to stories from the Old Testament and the Koran), or he “spontaneously generated” from clay already there (both versions are given in the book). Then the hero was fed by a gazelle, learned everything on his own, subjugated the world around him and learned to think abstractly. The book was translated into Latin in 1671 (as “The Self-Taught Philosopher”), and in 1708 into English (as “The Improvement of the Human Mind”). This novel influenced European philosophy (for example, J. Locke) and literature (the type of narrative that the Germans in the 19th century would call the “novel of education”).
Defoe also saw a lot of interesting things in him. The plot of understanding the surrounding world and conquering nature went well with the new Enlightenment idea of a person who intelligently arranges his life. True, the hero of Ibn Tufail acts without knowing anything about civilization; Robinson, on the contrary, being a civilized person, reproduces the signs of civilization in his own country. From the half-sunken ship, he takes three Bibles, navigational instruments, weapons, gunpowder, clothes, a dog and even money (though they were useful only at the end of the novel). He did not forget the language, prayed daily and consistently observed religious holidays, built a fortress house, a fence, made furniture, a tobacco pipe, began to sew clothes, keep a diary, started a calendar, began to use the usual measures of weight, length, volume, and established a daily routine : “In the foreground were religious duties and the reading of the Holy Scriptures... The second of the daily tasks was hunting... The third was the sorting, drying and cooking of killed or caught game.”
Here, perhaps, you can see Defoe’s main ideological message (it exists, despite the fact that the book about Robinson was clearly written and published as a commercial, sensational one): a modern man of the third estate, relying on his reason and experience, is able to independently arrange his life in complete harmony with the achievements of civilization. This author’s idea fits well with the ideology of the Age of Enlightenment with its acceptance of Cartesian epistemology (“I think, therefore I am”), Lockean empiricism (a person receives all the material of reasoning and knowledge from experience) and a new idea of the active personality, rooted in Protestant ethics. The last one is worth looking into in more detail.
Tables of Protestant Ethics
Robinson's life consists of rules and traditions defined by his native culture. Robinson's father, an honest representative of the middle class, extols the "middle state" (that is, the Aristotelian golden mean), which in in this case consists in a reasonable acceptance of life’s lot: Crusoe’s family is relatively wealthy and there is no point in abandoning the “position occupied by birth in the world.” Having cited his father’s apology for the average state, Robinson continues: “And although (this is how the father ended his speech) he will never stop praying for me, he declares to me directly that if I do not give up my crazy idea, I will not have the blessing of God.” . Judging by the plot of the novel, it took Robinson many years and trials to understand the essence of his father’s warning.
Engraving. Jean Granville
On the island, he retraced the path of human development - from gathering to colonialism. Leaving the island at the end of the novel, he positions himself as its owner (and in the second book, returning to the island, he behaves like the local viceroy).
The notorious “middle state” and burgher morality in this case are completely combined with the bad idea of the 18th century about the inequality of races and the admissibility of the slave trade and slavery. At the beginning of the novel, Robinson found it possible to sell the boy Xuri, with whom he escaped from Turkish captivity; Afterwards, if not for the shipwreck, he planned to engage in the slave trade. The first three words Robinson taught Friday were “yes,” “no,” and “master.”
Whether Defoe wanted it consciously or not, his hero turned out to be an excellent portrait of a man of the third estate in the 18th century, with his support for colonialism and slavery, a rational business approach to life, and religious restrictions. Most likely, Robinson is what Defoe himself was. Robinson doesn't even try to find out Friday's real name; The author is also not very interested in it.
Robinson is a Protestant. In the text of the novel, his exact religious affiliation is not indicated, but since Defoe himself (like his father) was a Presbyterian, it is logical to assume that his hero, Robinson, also belongs to the Presbyterian church. Presbyterianism is one of the directions of Protestantism, based on the teachings of John Calvin; in fact, it is a type of Calvinism. Robinson inherited this belief from his German father, an emigrant from Bremen who once bore the name Kreuzner.
Protestants insist that there is no need for priests as intermediaries to communicate with God. So the Protestant Robinson believed that he communicated with God directly. By communication with God, as a Presbyterian, he meant only prayer; he did not believe in the sacraments.
Without mental communication with God, Robinson would quickly go crazy. He prays and reads the Holy Scriptures every day. With God he does not feel alone even in the most extreme circumstances.
This, by the way, correlates well with the story of Alexander Selkirk, who, in order not to go crazy from loneliness on the island, read the Bible aloud every day and sang psalms loudly.
One of the restrictions that Robinson religiously observes looks curious (Defoe does not specifically dwell on at this moment, but it is clearly visible from the text) is the habit of always walking clothed on a desert tropical island. Apparently, the hero cannot bare himself before God, constantly feeling his presence nearby. In one scene - where Robinson swims to a half-sunken ship near the island - he entered the water “undressed”, and then, while on the ship, was able to use his pockets, which means he still did not completely undress.
Protestants - Calvinists, Presbyterians - were confident that it was possible to determine which people were loved by God and which were not. This can be seen from the signs that you need to be able to observe. One of the most important is luck in business, which greatly increases the value of work and its material results. Once on the island, Robinson tries to understand his situation with the help of a table in which he carefully writes down all the pros and cons. Their number is equal, but this gives Robinson hope. Further, Robinson works hard and through the results of his work he feels the mercy of the Lord.
Equally important are the numerous warning signs that do not stop young Robinson. The first ship on which he set off sank (“Conscience, which at that time had not yet completely hardened in me,” says Robinson, “severely reproached me for neglecting my parents’ admonitions and for violating my duties to God and my father,” - this means neglect of the given lot in life and father’s admonitions). Another ship was captured by Turkish pirates. Robinson set off on the most ill-fated of his journeys exactly eight years later, to the day after escaping from his father, who warned him against unwise steps. Already on the island he sees a dream: from the sky comes down to him scary man, engulfed in flames, and wants to strike with a spear for wickedness.
Defoe persistently pursues the idea that one should not commit daring actions and it’s cool to change your life without special signs from above, that is, in essence, he constantly condemns pride (despite the fact that he most likely does not consider Robinson’s colonialist habits to be pride).
Gradually, Robinson becomes more and more inclined towards religious thoughts. At the same time, he clearly separates the spheres of the miraculous and the everyday. Seeing ears of barley and rice on the island, he gives thanks to God; then he remembers that he himself shook out a bag of bird food at this place: “The miracle disappeared, and along with the discovery that all this was the most natural thing, I must admit, my gratitude to Providence cooled significantly.”
When Friday appears on the island, the main character tries to instill in him his own religious ideas. He is baffled by the natural question about the origin and essence of evil, the most difficult for most believers: why does God tolerate the devil? Robinson does not give a direct answer; after thinking for a while, he suddenly likens the devil to a man: “You better ask why God didn’t kill you or me when we did bad things that offended Him; we were spared so that we would repent and receive forgiveness.”
The main character himself was dissatisfied with his answer - nothing else came to his mind. In general, Robinson eventually comes to the conclusion that he is not very successful in interpreting complex theological issues.
IN last years living on the island is something else that gives him sincere joy: prayer together with Friday, a joint feeling of the presence of God on the island.
Robinson's legacy
Although Defoe saved the main philosophical and ethical content for the last, third book about Robinson, time turned out to be wiser than the author: Defoe’s most profound, integral and influential book was recognized as the first volume of this trilogy (characteristically, the latter was not even translated into Russian).
Jean-Jacques Rousseau in didactic novel"Emile, or On Education" (1762) called "Robinson Crusoe" the only book useful for children's reading. The plot situation of a desert island, described by Defoe, is considered by Rousseau as an educational game, which the child should become familiar with through reading.
Engraving. Jean Granville
In the 19th century, several variations on the Robinson theme were created, including Robert Ballantyne's Coral Island (1857), Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island (1874), and Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (1882). In the second half of the 20th century, “Robinsonade” was rethought in the light of current philosophical and psychological theories - “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding (1954), “Friday, or Pacific Limb” (1967) and “Friday, or Wild life"(1971) by Michel Tournier, "Mr. Fo" (1984) by John Maxwell Coetzee. Luis Buñuel set surreal and psychoanalytic accents in the film Robinson Crusoe (1954).
Now, in the 21st century, in the light of new thoughts about the coexistence of a number of different cultures, Defoe's novel is still relevant. The relationship between Robinson and Friday is an example of the interaction of races as it was understood three centuries ago. Roman on specific example makes you wonder: what has changed over the years and in what ways the authors’ views are certainly outdated? In terms of worldview, Defoe's novel perfectly illustrates the ideology of the Enlightenment in its British version. However, now we are much more interesting question about the essence of man in general. Let us recall the aforementioned novel by Golding “Lord of the Flies”, in which the abodes of the island do not develop, like Defoe’s, but, on the contrary, degrade and show base instincts. What is he, a person, really like, what is more in him - creative or destructive? In essence, here one can see a cultural reflection on the Christian concept of original sin.
As for the author’s religious ideas, the average reader’s idea of a golden mean will probably not cause objections, which cannot be said about the condemnation of daring actions in general. IN in this regard The author's philosophy can be considered bourgeois, bourgeois. Such representations will be condemned, for example, by representatives romantic literature V early XIX century.
Despite this, Defoe's novel continues to live. This is explained by the fact that “Robinson Crusoe” is, first of all, a sensational text, not a didactic one; it captivates with images, plot, exoticism, and does not teach. The meanings contained in it are present, rather, latently, and therefore it raises questions rather than giving complete answers. This is the key to the long life of a literary work. Reading it again and again, each generation thinks about the questions that arise and answers them in its own way.
The first translation of Robinson Crusoe into Russian was published in 1762. It was translated by Yakov Trusov under the title “The Life and Adventures of Robinson Cruz, a Natural Englishman.” Classic, most often reissued full translation text into Russian was published in 1928 by Maria Shishmareva (1852–1939), and since 1955 it has been reprinted many times.
Leo Tolstoy in 1862 made his retelling of the first volume of Robinson Crusoe for his pedagogical magazine Yasnaya Polyana.
There are 25 film adaptations of Robinson Crusoe (including animation). The first was made in 1902, the last in 2016. The role of Robinson was played by such actors as Douglas Farnbex, Pavel Kadochnikov, Peter O'Toole, Leonid Kuravlev, Pierce Brosnan, Pierre Richard.
Daniel Defoe's novel “Robinson Crusoe” is one of the most popular and books read in the world. In many languages, a new word “Robinson” even appeared, which means a person living away from other people. But stories about how someone ends up on a desert island and spends several years there completely alone have happened in real life. Sometimes the adventures of non-fictional Robinsons are even more incredible than the plot of Robinson Crusoe. Here are some of them.
Story one
The most famous non-fictional Robinson
The world's most famous non-fictional Robinson was named Alexander Selkirk. It was his memoirs that became the basis for Daniel Defoe’s novel and it was his adventures that are described in “Robinson Crusoe” - though not exactly, but in a slightly modified form.
Selkirk was a Scot and served as a boatswain on the pirate galley Sank Port. Because of a quarrel with the captain, he had to leave the ship on the small deserted island of Mas a Tierra in the Pacific Ocean. This happened in May 1704.
The sailor built himself a hut from logs and leaves, learned to make fire by rubbing one piece of wood against another, and even managed to tame wild goats, which other travelers had brought to Mas a Tierra many years ago. He ate sea turtle meat, fish and fruits, and made clothes from goat skins.
Alexander Selkirk had to spend more than four years on a desert island. On February 2, 1709, two English warships, the Duke and the Duchess, moored to the shore. Imagine the surprise of the captains and sailors when a man with a thick beard, dressed in goat skin and almost forgot how to speak, came out to meet them. Selkirk was accepted aboard the Duke, and after a long voyage, it was only in 1712 that he finally managed to return to his homeland.
The real story and the plot of the novel differ in many ways. Robinson Crusoe spent 28 years on the island, and Alexander Selkirk - only 4. In the fictional story, the hero of the book had a savage friend Friday, but in reality, Selkirk spent all the years on the island completely alone. And another interesting difference is that Defoe in his novel described a completely different island, which is located several thousand kilometers from Mas a Tierra (and in 1966 Mas a Tierra was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island) - in a different ocean and even in another hemisphere!
The uninhabited island described in the novel “Robinson Crusoe” was placed by Daniel Defoe near the island of Trinidad in the Caribbean Sea. The author took the nature of the southern Caribbean islands as the basis for the descriptions of his uninhabited island.
A real island Robinson Crusoe is not tropical at all and is located much further south. This island now belongs to Chile and is located 700 kilometers west of the coast of South America. The climate here is mild, but not as hot as on the Caribbean islands. The flat part of the island is mainly covered with meadows, and the mountainous part is covered with forest.
Picture from here
Robinson Crusoe Island (formerly Mas a Tierra), where Alexander Selkirk lived for 4 years
Story two
Robinson on a sand spit
This story took place a century and a half earlier than Alexander Selkirk's Robinsonade, but in approximately the same part of the Pacific Ocean.
Spanish sailor Pedro Serrano was the only survivor of a shipwreck that occurred in 1540 off the coast of Peru. Pedro's new home was an uninhabited island, which is just a narrow strip of sand 8 kilometers long.
The island was completely deserted and lifeless; there was not even fresh water to be found here. This is how the unfortunate sailor would have died if not for the sea turtles - the only guests of the island. Pedro was able to satisfy his hunger with turtle meat dried in the sun, and from turtle shells he made bowls to collect rainwater.
picture from here
Pedro Serrano hunts turtles (illustration for the book)
Pedro Serrano was able to get fire using stones, for which he had to dive into the sea many times. There were no stones on the island itself; they could only be found at the bottom of the ocean.
By burning dry seaweed and fragments of trees carried by the waves, the sailor could cook food and keep warm at night.
So 3 years passed. And then something amazing happened - another person suddenly appeared on the island, also a survivor of the shipwreck. His name, unfortunately, has not been preserved due to the remoteness of the events.
Together, the Robinsons spent another 7 years on the island, until they were finally picked up by a passing ship.
Picture from here
The island where Pedro Serrano robinsoned looked something like this
Story three
Robinson among the seals
Our next hero's name was Daniel Foss. He was an American and was traveling on a ship called the Merchant in the South Pacific. But it so happened that on November 25, 1809, the Negotiant collided with an iceberg and sank, and only Daniel Foss managed to escape and get to the nearest island. The island, as in the story of Pedro Serrano, turned out to be completely deserted, but not sandy, but rocky. The only inhabitants of the island were numerous seals. Poor Robinson had to eat their meat for several years. And he quenched his thirst with rainwater, which accumulated in the stone recesses of the island.
The only wooden object on the island was an old oar, brought here by the waves. On this oar, Foss made notches so as not to get confused in counting the days, and at the same time, in small, small letters, he cut out notes about his stay on the island.
From seal skins, Foss was able to sew himself warm clothes, and from stones he built a strong house with walls about a meter thick. Robinson also built a stone pillar 10 meters high. Every day, Foss climbed onto it and peered into the distance, looking for a rescue ship. Only after 3 years of staying on the island did he manage to see a sail in the distance, which soon disappeared beyond the horizon. This incident gave our hero a little hope, because if one ship passed nearby, then others may well pass too.
Fortune smiled on Fost only after two more years. A man waving an oar was spotted from a passing ship, but the ship was unable to get close to the island due to dangerous rocky shoals. Then Robinson, risking his life, swam to the ship on his own and was finally rescued. 
Picture from here
This is what the rocky shores of the island looked like, where Daniel Foss spent 5 long years
Story four
Russian Northern Robinson
Russia also had its own Robinsons. One of them was the hunter Yakov Minkov, who managed to live alone on Bering Island (one of the Commander Islands, not far from Kamchatka) for seven whole years. Unfortunately, we don’t know very much about this man and the details of his Robinsonade.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Yakov Minkov, together with other hunters, sailed on a fishing vessel around the northern islands. The main task of the voyage was to hunt Arctic foxes (these animals with very valuable fur are found only in the far north). In 1805, the captain of a fishing vessel landed a hunter on Bering Island “to guard the catch” and promised to return for him in two months.
But the ship lost its course and could not find its way back, and the poor hunter had to survive all alone on the northern island with a harsh climate. He lived in a small fishing hut left by someone, caught fish, and made himself warm clothes and shoes from the skins of arctic foxes and fur seals.
It was especially difficult during the long and frosty northern winters. For wintering, Yakov Minkov built himself a yurt. It happened that it was completely covered with snow during snowstorms.
Despite all the difficulties, the Northern Robinson managed to survive, wait for a schooner passing by the island and escape. In 1812, Yakov Minkov finally returned home.
Picture from here
Bering Island, where Russian hunter Yakov Minkov spent 7 years
Story five
Volunteer Robinson
Survival alone on a desert island is voluntary. One of the most famous volunteer Robinsons in the world is New Zealander Tom Neal.
In 1957, he settled on the deserted coral island of Suvorov in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. You may immediately ask, where did the island named after the Russian commander come from? Everything is very simple - Suvorov Island was discovered by the Russian traveler Mikhail Lazarev (he also discovered Antarctica), who traveled on a ship called “Suvorov”.
Tom Neal was well prepared for life on the island. He took with him a large supply of fuel, matches, blankets, soap, and brought with him cereal seeds. He also brought chickens and pigs with him to the island. Robinson's lunch menu included fish, sea turtle eggs and nuts from numerous coconut trees.
In 1960, an American ship unexpectedly arrived on Suvorov Island. Tom Neal was not at all happy to meet people. “I am very disappointed, gentlemen, that I was not warned in advance of your arrival. I apologize for my suit,” he mockingly replied to the American sailors. Tom Neal even refused American newspapers and magazines offered to him. “Your world doesn’t interest me at all,” he said.
In 1966, after 9 years of Robinsonade, Tom Neil came home for a short time to publish his book “An Island for Yourself”, and in 1967 he returned to Suvorov Island again.
And only in 1977, the already very old Tom Neil left his island forever and moved to the mainland.
Picture from here
Bird's eye view of Suvorov Island
Picture from here
Tom Neill's book "Alone on an Island"
It is widely known that English writer Daniel Defoe (c. 1660-1731), the author of the novel about Robinson Crusoe, did not invent the story of his hero. The prototype of the latter was the Scottish sailor, boatswain of the English ship Cinque Ports, Alexander Selkirk, who lived alone on the island of Masa Tierra for 1580 days, or 4 years and 4 months (from 1705 to 1709)
However, not many people know that A. Selkirk had a predecessor who, more than half a century earlier, managed to live on a barren piece of land off the coast of Peru for 7 long years - from 1540 to 1547. It turned out to be the Spanish sailor Pedro Serrano. This brave man, having shown will, perseverance, and courage, he defeated death and emerged with honor from the single combat with nature. And it was extremely difficult to do this.
The island where he ended up after a shipwreck was a long 8-kilometer sand spit. There was absolutely no vegetation of any kind here and there was not a drop of fresh water. The sailor's plight was also aggravated by the fact that of the most necessary things at his disposal he only had a knife and the clothes he was wearing.
By the way, A. Selkirk, when he left the ship, had clothes, a gun, gunpowder, bullets, a knife, a flint, a pot, as well as a compass, a pickaxe and a Bible. In addition, on his island he did not lack either drinking water or food. Boatswain Robinson ate fish, lobster, goat meat, and even diversified his diet with cabbage, which grew in abundance on Mas a Tierra.
Pedro Serrano could only dream of all this. He was tormented by hunger, thirst, and the cold at night caused suffering. Although there was a lot of dry seaweed and wood fragments all around, there was nothing to light a fire with. The sailor was close to despair, as he well understood that he was doomed to starvation. And then one day, exploring his “possessions” for the umpteenth time, he noticed turtles climbing along the dry sand to the island.
P. Serrano turned several of them onto their backs, then cut the throat of one animal and pressed his dry lips to the wound... The blood of the reptile quenched his thirst, it was fresh and somewhat reminiscent of fish juice. The turtle meat turned out to be edible, and most importantly, quite nutritious. Later, Pedro prepared it for future use - cut it into small pieces and dried it in the hot sun.
Animal shells also came in handy. The sailor made vessels from them into which he collected heavenly moisture. The unfortunate man was saved.
There were a great many turtles on this piece of land lost in the ocean, but eating their raw meat was disgusting. Fire was needed. You can cook hot food on the fire, and the smoke rising to the sky gave hope for salvation. As already mentioned, there was plenty of fuel. Threads from dry clothes could well have served as tinder, a metal knife could have served as a knife, but there was not a single stone around. Perhaps they can be found underwater? During a calm sea, the sailor dived near the shore until exhaustion, trying to find even small stones...
Finally he was lucky, and with the help of the found “flint” the fire blazed with a bright flame. To prevent the rain from extinguishing the hard-won fire, Serrano built a canopy over it from turtle shells. As it turned out, animals came in handy for all occasions.
Three years have passed. All attempts to attract at least some vessel to the island with the smoke of the fire were in vain. Every day for long hours, Robinson peered at the horizon until his eyes hurt, but the snow-white sails, appearing in the distance, invariably “dissolved” in the vast expanses of the ocean.
One morning during breakfast, an unwitting settler of the island saw a two-legged creature heading towards his fireplace. At first the man did not notice the hermit... but when he saw the overgrown Robinson, he screamed and rushed away. Serrano did the same, for he thought that the devil himself had visited him. Without stopping, he shouted at the top of his lungs: “Jesus, deliver me from the devil!” Hearing this, the stranger stopped and shouted: “Brother, don’t run from me! I am a Christian, just like you! Serrano didn't stop. Then the stranger began to read a prayer loudly. The sailor turned back. He walked up to a man dressed in blue pants and a shirt and pulled him into his arms.
The unknown person said that his ship was wrecked, and he himself, grabbing a piece of the mast, reached the island. Unfortunately, the annals of history did not preserve the name of the second Robinson. Serrano offered everything he had - water, meat, fish, which he now obtained with a harpoon made from a piece of wood with a tip made of a sharp fish bone.
Now there were two of them, and they lived in friendship and harmony. The household was carried out jointly: one watched the fire, collected dry seaweed or fragments of wood thrown up by the sea, the other got food. In their free time they had long conversations, telling each other about their past lives. However, then the topics of conversation were exhausted. People barely exchanged a few sentences. Then came reproaches, anger, and absolute silence. Often, due to grievances, even fights arose over insignificant reasons...
They broke up. Now everyone hunted turtles, fished, and maintained a fire on their own territory of the island. Time passed and reconciliation arrived. One of the sailors had the determination to be the first to take a step forward. Tears of shame flowed down their faces, their lips trembled, but there was also boundless joy - the joy that they were together again.
And finally, a ship approached the island. The boat was lowered into the water, and the sailors unanimously leaned on the oars. Approaching the shore, the rowers saw two hairy “fiends of hell” standing on the sand. Frightened, muttering prayers, they immediately turned back. At any moment the thread of hope for salvation could break...
Serrano and his comrade shouted as loud as they could: “Come back, we are people!” But the boat was still moving towards the ship. Driven to despair, the Robinsons loudly sang a prayer. The boat again turned its nose towards the sand spit.
The sailors with undisguised fear examined and felt the shaggy creatures, and then took them to the ship, where the companion Pedro Serrano, unable to withstand the excitement, died of a broken heart. The survivor was taken first to Spain and then to Germany to show it to the emperor. To prove his story, Serrano did not cut his hair, and during the trip, like an exotic animal, he was shown to everyone for a certain bribe.
The emperor granted the brave “Robinson” enormous wealth - 4000 ounces (1 ounce = 29.86 g) of gold. Using this gift, the sailor wanted to settle in Peru opposite the island where he spent 7 years, but he died on the way there.
Australian hermit
Are modern “Robinsons” known, after reading these lines, the reader will ask? Yes, they are known. And the fate of the Australian hermit James Carol developed most dramatically. This happened in 1926. One day, Doctor Korlyand and his friends went hunting in that part of the Green Continent where villages of cannibals still remained. Having entered into friendly communication with them, the traveler learned that a white man lived nearby. A company of hunters became interested in this “dark-skinned” savage and decided to visit him...
Approaching the cave that the aborigines pointed to, they suddenly heard the growl of an animal. A few minutes later, a shaggy head emerged from her womb. Korlyand ran towards the gorilla-like creature, but as soon as it noticed the stranger, it attacked the stranger with such force that the hunter fell. The doctor's companions rushed to the rescue and grabbed the furry creature. They tried to speak English, French, German and Dutch, but in response the savage only growled and tried to bite people. They tied him up and only then did they enter the cave.
To the greatest surprise, a thick notebook-diary was found there, which this man-beast had kept for a number of years. From the manuscript it turned out that the stone dwelling was inhabited by Dr. James Karol, who 25 years ago killed his wife out of jealousy and ran away out of despair and fear to an unknown destination. In his diary, he wrote about his experiences in the wilderness, surrounded by dangerous beasts and poisonous animals. Over time, the fugitive turned into a beast. Karol was placed in a sanatorium near Sydney. His further fate is unknown.
Yes, not everyone who found themselves cut off from people managed to remain human. After all, man is a social being, and the most terrible punishment for him is the oppressive fear of Loneliness.
Disappointing experience
In 1962, French radio reporter Georges de Caunes decided to experience first-hand what it was like for Robinson Crusoe on a desert island. For his experiment, he chose the deserted island of Henao in Polynesia, which had once served as a place of exile for convicts, and decided to live on it in complete solitude for a year. The reporter took with him a large supply of canned food, medicines, tools, as well as a radio transmitter, which he could use for 5 minutes every day.
The experience ended badly. After a 4-month stay on the island, having lost 15 kg in weight, he was taken to a hospital in the Marquesas Islands. De Con admitted that he could not stand the loneliness and gave up in front of mosquitoes and sharks, which did not allow him to fish.
Robinsons against their will
But under what circumstances did 44-year-old civil aviation pilot Henri Bourdin and his wife Jose begin their Robinsonade. At the end of 1966, they set off on a months-long journey on their yacht, Singa Betina, from Singapore to their homeland. The storm that broke out severely damaged the fragile boat of the sailors, knocked it off course, and after many weeks of drifting, the broken yacht was brought to the shores of the small Bathurst Island, 5D miles north of the Australian port of Darwin.
The travelers were so confident that they would be quickly discovered that they did not bother with worrying about storing food for a long time. They carried only a little rice, flour and canned food from the yacht. But days and weeks passed, and the Bourdains realized that they were isolated.
When food supplies ran out, the couple began to eat crabs, lizards, and snails. “The island was swarming with poisonous snakes,” said Jose. “I was so afraid that they would bite us.” We listened to music - we had a portable radio and a transistor tape recorder, which survived on the yacht. Bach and Mozart were our true friends. They kept us sane." Two long months passed, but the worst was ahead.
“My husband made a raft from the wreckage of a yacht. We decided to get to the mainland...” However, the wood from which it was built quickly swelled and lost its buoyancy. Alone among the endless water desert, without food - only a pot of fresh water - slowly, very slowly, they began to drown. It is unclear how miraculously the tree that had absorbed the moisture could still withstand their weight. The endless hours passed like this. It seemed to people that death itself had turned away from them. The couple still had some remnants of strength, they stood waist-deep in the water, and the raft slowly moved across the ocean...
It was the fourth day. Jose and Henri were still alive. The celestial body was approaching sunset, a little more and it would go beyond the horizon. “I raised my head,” the woman continued, “and saw a ship... Mirage? Hallucination? No! It seems that it noticed us too, I screamed. My husband had the strength to light a smoke bomb - I don’t know how he managed to keep it dry.” The unfortunates were rescued by an Australian patrol boat.
In 1974, four shipwrecked young adventurers were stranded on a coral reef in the Tasman Sea for 42 days. Only when the seventh week of their “imprisonment” began did the fishing trawler manage to break through the storm and take on board people completely exhausted by thirst and hunger.
Frivolous travelers braved the elements of the sea by sailing on a small yacht from the New Zealand city of Auckland to the Australian port of Sydney. They had to overcome 1280 miles. As experts from the sea rescue center in Canberra later stated, this was one of the most unprepared trips. The ocean, however, accepted a daring challenge: 350 miles from the east coast of Australia, the treacherous Middleton Reef awaited the yacht...
This underwater shoal, completely hidden under water during high waves, has gained the sad fame of a ship graveyard. Among its victims were a cargo ship with a displacement of 13.5 thousand tons and a fishing schooner, in the wreckage of which the would-be Robinsons took refuge from the scorching rays of the sun, wind and rain.
In the same year, members of the crew of an American warship, having landed on the Polynesian island of Anto-rage in the Cook Archipelago, which was listed as uninhabited in the sailing directions, discovered there... a Robinson. It turned out to be New Zealander Tom Neil. He said that he had been living on this piece of land for two years, having become disillusioned with the “delights of a capitalist society of equal opportunities.”
On the island he raised chickens, pigs and pigeons. Neil had only his faithful dog with him. The hermit responded with a categorical refusal to the offer to return home. And when the sailors offered him American newspapers and magazines, he said: “Your world doesn’t interest me!” The path of voluntary solitude he chose continues to this day.
Concluding the story, one cannot help but dwell on amazing fate another modern Robinson - 14-year-old boy Sasha Barash, who lived with his father in the village of one of the Soviet oceanological stations in Primorye.
In 1977, while sailing on the Burun research boat, he was washed overboard. The boy swam to an uninhabited island. All the victim’s wealth consisted of: the clothes he was wearing, a penknife, two large safety pins, a pencil stub, a two-meter piece of nylon cord and sneakers. He ate seagull eggs, mussels, and edible wild plants. A little over a month later, the boy was rescued by Soviet border guards.
After his safe return, in a conversation with a correspondent of the newspaper Pacific Komsomolets, the young Robinson said: “One evening, for the umpteenth time, I remembered the islands described in the books of Jules Verne and Defoe. I suddenly felt funny. How inventive these writers were! None of the methods (of survival) described in " Mysterious island" and "Robinson Crusoe", was never useful to me."
And indeed, as we see, each Robinson found his own way to survive, each followed his own path to salvation.
Who among us did not read in childhood, voluntarily or “under pressure” (as required school program), Daniel Defoe's adventure novel about Robinson Crusoe? The novel was written in the relatively rare genre of “fictional autobiography” (1719).
The fact that the biography was fictional did not immediately dawn on readers, and many believed that everything in the novel was the pure truth from beginning to end: the adventures of Robinson and his faithful companion Friday were written so realistically that the reality of the “autobiography” did not bother anyone doubts.
As the years passed, when there were more and more books in the Robinsonade style, and the name of the main character became a household name (two hundred years ago), it became increasingly difficult to believe in the truth of the adventures of numerous Robinsonades.
However, interest in this work, which will turn three hundred years old in four years, is not diminishing. Therefore, it is not surprising that the question - did Robinson Crusoe really exist - comes up again and again.
Different versions are being put forward. However, it is worth saying right away: the Robinson Crusoe described in the novel, alas, never existed... However, there were prototypes.
The hero of the novel "Robinson Crusoe" is a collective image from many stories about sailors surviving on uninhabited islands, of which there were many in that era.
The fact is that, although Daniel Defoe avoids this topic in his work, everything (or almost everything) real prototypes his novel were pirates.
In extreme cases - privateers, that is, essentially the same pirates, only not “wild”, but “working” under a contract for one of the warring countries (most often they were used by Great Britain to rob Spanish “golden caravans”).
Since a guardhouse was not provided for on pirate ships in principle, such sailors were either killed for their misdeeds or left on a desert island “to be judged by God.”
In the latter case, the islands were used as "natural prisons." (In that era of uninhabited islands, as they say, you can eat with a spoon...) Indeed, you cannot escape from such an island, and it is not easy to survive there. This was the “divine judgment”: if after a year or a couple of years the sailor remained alive, then he was again taken away by his own “colleagues” in the pirate “workshop”, but if not... No, as they say, there is no trial.
It is believed that the story of the survival of the Scot Alexander Selkirk had the greatest influence on Daniel Defoe. This was a sailor who, since 1703, sailed on the galley (small warship) "Cinque Ports", where he served as a boatswain (according to other sources, as a captain's mate).
In 1704, as part of a small privateer flotilla led by the famous pirate captain William Dampier, he was supposed to rob Spanish ships off the coast of South America. The captain treated him very well. However, after the death of the captain, Thomas Stradling took charge of the ship.
He was a very tough person. And apparently, not very smart. And if we also take into account the fact that Selkirk - like a true Scottish privateer - had a very bad character and violent disposition, which is why he constantly quarreled with other sailors, then the picture emerges as disappointing. It would be fine with the crew, but Selkirk also argued with the captain. And quarreling with the pirate captain is more expensive for yourself.
Because of one of these quarrels (Selkirk convinced the captain to fix a hole in the hold by landing on one of the islands, and the captain argued that this required a dock) he was demoted in rank.
Selkirk called Stradling a "damn captain" and said that he would feel safer on a desert island than on a ship commanded by such a mediocrity. The captain took his words literally and ordered him to land on the nearest uninhabited island...
At that time, the ship was sailing closer to Chile, to the Juan Fernandez archipelago. Despite the fact that the unlucky boatswain repented and asked to cancel the order, Stradling equipped the sailor with everything he needed and landed him on the small island of Mas a Tierra, 600 km off the coast of Chile. Grinning gloatingly, the captain wrote in the ship's log that Alexander Selkirk was missing...
It must be said that Selkirk received excellent equipment for those times - even despite the quarrel with the captain. He was given spare clothes and underwear (a true luxury for those times), a blanket, tobacco, a cooking pot, a knife and an axe.
And most importantly, our hero was provided with a flintlock rifle, quite modern at that time, with a pound of gunpowder, bullets and flint. They also included the Bible, without which the “divine judgment” would not have been a trial.
Three hundred years later, archaeologists at the site of his camp in the tropics also found navigational instruments, thanks to which Selkirk probably observed the stars, thus determining the day and month.
It should also be noted that important fact: equipment with equipment, but the boatswain himself was an experienced man, although he was only 27 years old at the time of disembarkation (people in those days grew up much faster). Selkirk was the son of a shoemaker, but the quiet, calm life did not satisfy him; he was delirious about the sea and at the age of eighteen he ran away from home and hired himself as a cabin boy on a ship.
However, he did not sail for long: his ship was almost immediately captured by French pirates, who sold Alexander into slavery. Nevertheless, the brave young man fled, then joined the pirates and returned home as an experienced sailor with a large wallet full of gold coins, obtained by unjust means... However, in our modern opinion, unjust. In those days they thought completely differently...
Finding himself on a desert island, our sailor began a vigorous activity, although he hoped that sooner or later the British or French would take him away. To begin with, he examined his possessions and almost immediately discovered a source of fresh water.
Then he built an observation post and two huts: an “office” and a “kitchen”. Of course, he had to rely on his own strength and learn everything: to build and get food...
At first, he ate local fruits and roots (he found, for example, a local variety of turnip), and hunted sea creatures, turtles, crabs and shellfish.
So only a very lazy person could die of hunger here. Moreover, a little later Selkirk discovered a small population of goats, which he hunted with his gun.
Then, when gunpowder began to run out, he tamed goats and began to receive milk, meat and skins from them. The latter came in handy when, a couple of years later, his clothes became unusable. Using a nail he found, he sewed himself some simple clothes from goat skins: his experience working in his father’s shoe shop came in handy.
From half a coconut I made myself a “cup” on a leg, “furniture”, etc. In other words, Selkirk has settled down on the island quite thoroughly. Although, without a doubt, his life is on the verge of madness...
True, Selkirk never met his “Friday” (or is it his own? Here the opinions of researchers differ regarding the gender of Defoe’s Friday), so he suffered most from loneliness.
The main tests, by his own admission, were loneliness. But it didn't break him. And his analytical mind helped him survive among the wild.
The second problem was the fight against the rats that infested this island. The rats ate food supplies and spoiled all his other property. Selkirk even made his own chest (which he decorated with carvings) to protect things from the weather and rats.
However, the boatswain found wild cats on the island, which he tamed, and thus protected himself from tailed pests. Some researchers believe that the presence of goats, rats and feral cats indicated that the island was once inhabited, but Selkirk never found any traces of other people.
The statement is controversial: the rats could have sailed on the wreckage of wrecked ships or on ships that stopped at the island of ships; cats and goats were originally wild animals, so why shouldn't they live on this island?
In order not to forget human speech, Selkirk talked to himself and read the Bible aloud. Despite the fact that the boatswain was not the most righteous person, it was the Bible, as he himself later admitted, that helped him remain human in a wild environment.
One day, two Spanish ships arrived on the island, probably in search of fresh water, but Selkirk, who was a British privateer, was afraid to go out to them, since the Spaniards would probably hang him on the yards for piracy. The ships left, and the boatswain was again left alone with the goats and cats.
However, fate was merciful to him: he was still saved. Four years after he landed on the island, on February 1, 1709, his own flotilla returned for Selkirk. However, its composition was already different, and the ship "Cinque Ports" was not there: it soon fell into a storm and sank.
According to some sources, the crew died, according to others, they were picked up by the Spaniards and put on trial for piracy. So, ultimately, Selkirk won that he did not stay on this ship and ended up on a desert island. But, of course, he could not know this at the time of landing, and he repented because of the quarrel with the captain.
It is noteworthy that Woods Rogers, the captain of the ship "Duke", which was directly involved in the evacuation of the prototype of the hero "Robinson Crusoe", indicated in his ship's log that he was rescuing the "governor of the island." And that, in principle, I did not greatly sin against the truth...
Although the “governor” still had the same appearance: a thoroughly savage man in a beautiful physical fitness(running for food and constant physical work the fresh air is very conducive to this) with long hair and a beard in clothes made of goat skins with a thoroughly forgotten speech. Speech, however, recovered quite quickly.
Arriving two years later in his native place (he sailed on the “Duke” until 1711), the former “Robinson” Selkirk became a regular at taverns, where he told stories of his adventures on a desert island over a glass of beer. Probably one of the witnesses to his drunken performances was Daniel Defoe.
So the novel was based on the life of Selkirk. How truthfully did the Scot tell about what happened to him? After all, it is known that sailors, pirates, and fishermen have always considered it simply necessary to boast. What a holy thing! Who will check it?
However, most likely Defoe read Woods Rogers' book "A Voyage Around the World", published in 1712 in London, where Rogers described his meeting with Selkirk.
It must be said that after his release from the uninhabited island, Selkirk did not stay on land for long. After some time, he returned to privateering again, but ten years later, off the coast of West Africa, he died of yellow fever and was “buried at sea” (that is, thrown overboard with full honors). Thus ended the story of the real "Robinson".
By the way, the island where Selkirk lived was named "Robinson Crusoe", and the neighboring one - "Alexander Selkirk". But this happened after the inglorious death of the brave Scottish boatswain with a bad character, who died without knowing that he had become a legend. These days, many curious tourists come to these islands.
In conclusion, I would like to note one fact that is not directly related to the story about the prototype of the novel’s hero: Daniel Defoe wrote not one novel, as is commonly thought, but four.
Moreover, the latter tells about the adventures of the already elderly Robinson in... Siberia! Unfortunately, latest novels The series have never been fully translated into Russian.
Scottish sailor, born in 1676 in the village of Lower Largo, now Lundeen Links. Alexander Selkirk was the son of a tanner. He was a naughty child and showed a quarrelsome and rebellious disposition in his youth.
Selkirk decided to become a sailor; a thirst for adventure beckoned him. He took part in pirate expeditions in the South Seas and in 1703 joined the famous corsair William Dampier, who was captain of the Cinque Ports. This ship had 26 guns on board and a crew of 120 people. Selkirk served in the galley of this ship.
In October 1704, Alexander Selkirk quarreled with Captain Dampier over his bad character and left the ship. They put him in a boat, gave him some equipment and pointed him to the ground. It was in the Juan Fernandez archipelago Mas Afuera (Mas a Tierra), which translates as “the most remote”.
The island is rugged with mountain ranges, and its highest point is Mount Cerro de los Innocentes (1329 m). The island, however, is not at all like the islands that we are usually shown in films about Robinson Crusoe - with an abundance of vegetation and paradise beaches. Alexander had to live on this island for 4 years and 4 months completely alone until he was rescued. It was Alexander Selkirk who became the prototype for all famous hero Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe. Having met Selkirk and being inspired by his experience, the famous writer wrote his best work, which thundered throughout the world.
Alexander had some things necessary for survival: he had an ax, he had a gun, a supply of gunpowder and much more. Selkirk suffered from loneliness, got used to the island and gradually acquired the necessary survival skills. At first, his diet was meager, he ate shellfish, but over time he got used to it and discovered his neighbors on the island - wild goats. Once upon a time, people lived on this island and brought goats here, but after they left, the goats went wild. He hunted them, thereby adding much-needed meat to his diet. He tamed goats and received milk from them. Among plant crops, he discovered wild turnips, cabbage and black pepper, as well as some berries.
The danger for him was the rats living on the island, but fortunately for him, wild cats, previously brought by people, also lived on the island. In their company he could sleep peacefully, without fear of rats.
Alexander Selkirk's Cave
Island today
Alexander Selkirk built himself two huts from Pimento officinalis and used them for his needs. His supply of gunpowder was running low and he was forced to hunt goats without it. He chased the goats on foot, chased them all over the island and once got so carried away by the chase that he did not notice the cliff, after which he fell and lay there for some time. He miraculously survived.
In order not to forget the English speech, he constantly read the Bible aloud to himself, not to say that he was a pious person, it was just that he heard at least some speech. When his clothes began to wear out, he began to use goat skins. He was the son of a tanner and therefore knew well how to tan skins. After his boots wore out, he did not make himself new ones, because his feet, roughened by calluses, allowed him to walk without them. He also found old hoops from barrels and was able to make something like a knife out of them.
One day two ships arrived on the island. They turned out to be Spanish, and England and Spain were enemies in those days. Selkirk could have been arrested or even killed, since he was a privateer, and he made the difficult decision for himself to hide from them.
Salvation came to him on February 1, 1709, it was the English ship "Duke" with captain Woodges Roger, who named Selkirk governor of the island.
The island on which Alexander Selkirk lived was named Robinson Crusoe Island, and the neighboring islands of the Juan Fernandez archipelago were also named in his honor.