Le récit du naufrage et de la survie de Robinson Crusoé sur une île, de son installation et de la rencontre de Vendredi avec qui il se lie d'amitié, à lire en VO dans une version adaptée et illustrée pour les élèves de 5e !
Biographical noteBorn in London to a prosperous tallow-chandler, Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) was educated at the Presbyterian Ministry at Morton's Academy for Dissenters, but in 1683 abandoned the ministry and followed his father by pursuing a career in trade and politics. A prolific non-fiction writer (writing some 500 books on a wide range of topics), prominent public figure (single-handedly producing the Review, a pro-government newspaper, for some time) political agitant (arrested in 1703 for writing an ironical satire on High Church extremism) and secret agent, it was not until late in his life that Defoe turned to fiction. He published Robinson Crusoe in 1719, just over ten years before his death, and is widely held to be the first true novelist. Main descriptionDaniel Defoe's great masterpiece, in a gorgeous new clothbound edition designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. These delectable and collectible Penguin editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design'I walk'd about on the shore, lifting up my hands, and my whole being, as I may say, wrapt up in the contemplation of my deliverance ... reflecting upon all my comrades that were drown'd, and that there should not be one soul sav'd but my self ... 'Who has not dreamed of life on an exotic isle, far away from civilization? Here is the novel which has inspired countless imitations by lesser writers, none of which equal the power and originality of Defoe's famous book. Robinson Crusoe, set ashore on an island after a terrible storm at sea, is forced to make do with only a knife, some tobacco, and a pipe. He learns how to build a canoe, make bread, and endure endless solitude. That is, until, twenty-four years later, when he confronts another human being. First published in 1719, Robinson Crusoe has been praised by such writers as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Samuel Johnson as one of the greatest novels in the English language.'Robinson Crusoe has a universal appeal, a story that goes right to the core of existence' Simon Armitage
This work follows Daniel Defoe's fictional narrator as he traces the devastating progress of the plague through the streets of London. Here we see a city transformed - some of its streets suspiciously empty and some overwhelmingly full of the sounds and smells of human suffering.
Réagissant aux attaques virulentes portées par le pouvoir et l'Église d'Angleterre contre les non-conformistes, Defoe fait paraître en 1702 The Shortest Way with the Dissenters, pamphlet satirique, jugé séditieux, qui lui vaut condamnation à la prison et au pilori.
L'Hymne au pilori, rédigé en prison, paraît le 29 juillet 1703, jour de la première exposition de Defoe sur le pilori, et connaît un succès immédiat : on s'en récite des passages retenus par coeur et la foule, plutôt que de conspuer le condamné, le protège, le désaltère, l'acclame, le soutient. Honte et déshonneur se retournent contre les instigateurs du châtiment.
Écrit dans une langue âcre et rythmée, l'Hymne permet à Defoe de régler bien des comptes avec le pouvoir et les puissants de son temps.
Dans Caledonia, poème de quelque 1265 vers, Defoe fait un éloge quasi rhapsodique de l'Ecosse, vantant la beauté de ses paysages et les traditions héroïques de son peuple. Par cette revalorisation de l'Ecosse, Defoe témoigne de son soutien aux Ecossais, auprès desquels il espère améliorer sa réputation, et ce poème s'inscrit dans le contexte du débat sur l'Union anglo-écossaise, et, au moment de la publication de ce poème, Defoe est très clairement associé à la cause pro-unioniste. Le but de cette traduction de Caledonia est de mettre en lumière une partie négligée, mais non négligeable, du corpus de Defoe, qui est au demeurant un auteur très connu par sa prose (Robinson Crusoe ou Moll Flanders étant célèbres partout dans le monde). Elle se propose de faire connaître à un public universitaire et extra-universitaire ce texte dit «mineur », mais qui est en réalité surtout rare, oublié ou méconnu, car il est dommage de faire l'impasse sur toute une production poétique qui a été très importante entre 1701 et 1706, et qui fait partie de l'auteur Defoe tel que nous le connaissons dans sa prose, de sa formation, de sa production, de son écriture.
Defoe's last and darkest novel, is the autobiography of a woman who has traded her virtue, at first for survival, and then for fame and fortune. Its narrator tells the story of her own 'wicked' life as the mistress of rich and powerful men. A resourceful adventuress, she is also an unforgiving analyst of her own susceptibilities, who tells us of the price she pays for her successes. Endowed with many seductive skills, she is herself seduced: by money, by dreams of rank, and by the illusion that she can escape her own past. Unlike Defoe's other penitent anti-heroes, however, she fails to triumph over these weaknesses. Roxana's fame lies not only in the heroine's 'vast variety of fortunes', but in her attempts to understand the sometimes bitter lessons of her life as a 'Fortunate Mistress'.
1931. There is no obvious drama in this straightforward narrative. No one could pretend that Roxana reveals either charm or striking personality. The author's art comes from a particular form of realism, in which he stands almost alone. It is built upon absolute simplicity in style, elaborately precise statement of natural detail and a complete absence of emphasis or emotion. We do not judge Roxana for her conduct, but sympathize with her as a woman because Defoe has made her our friend. We believe in her as a real, living, intimate acquaintance who is interesting because her life is crowded with surprising events and fortune treats her with more than its usual caprice.
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders tells the story of the fall and eventual redemption of a lone woman in 17th-century England. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll, detailing her exploits from birth until old age. The titular heroine appears as a whore, bigamist, and thief, lives in The Mint, commits adultery and incest, and yet manages to retain the reader's sympathy.
