He also produces only goods that have an immediate utility value for him. For instance, Robinson can decide daily how many hours of work and how many hours of leisure time he wants. Overall Marx considers Robinson a positive example of the production of goods since his relation to the working conditions and means of production is much more immediate than ours is today. Over time the idea of such an economic microcosm has been taken up by various economists, even by Karl Marx in his “Critique of Political Economy”.

What happens to man, all on his own, far away from any civilization? In this fictional scenario, Robinson builds his own economy almost from scratch by cultivating the land on the island. One man, one island, and no existing economic system. The story raises many fundamental questions about human existence: Is man in the state of nature good? Does society protect him or corrupt him? Defoe’s novel can serve as a basis for philosophical debates just as well as it can be used to address the West’s problematic colonial past, reflected in Robinson’s encounters with Friday and the natives.īut another, at least equally fascinating, aspect of Robinson Crusoe’s story is the scenario it draws up of human existence prior to, or rather outside of, civilization. The Anglophone literary world has even named an entire genre after the influential work (the “Robinsonade”) and Hollywood has paid its respects to the sujet with films like “Cast Away” or the TV series “Lost”. The degree of popularity that the adventures of Crusoe and his temporary companion Friday have reached over the years should firmly save them a spot on most readers’ book shelves.

Daniel Defoe’s work, often considered to be the first English novel, experienced immediate success upon its first publication and has remained successful ever since. Most readers should be familiar with the “strange surprising” adventures of Robinson Crusoe, who is cast away on a remote island off the coast of South America and spends almost 28 years living alone the island. Published by Manesse, Bibliothek der Weltliteratur, 1957

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