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Article: Expanding empires, expanding selves: colonialism, the novel, and Robinson Crusoe.(Critical Essay)
- Article from:
- Studies in the Novel
- Article date:
- March 22, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 University of North Texas. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Featuring a British trader as its hero and set on a distant Caribbean island, Robinson Crusoe cries out for study in its colonial contexts. Indeed, British colonialism informs nearly every feature of Daniel Defoe's first novel. Spatially, Robinson Crusoe illustrates that the vastness of the globe can bring a corresponding enlargement, rather than shrinking, of the venturing self and can produce close self-reflection of a kind not easy to achieve in "civilized" society. Religiously, the novel demonstrates that a spiritual awakening can take place in isolation from society and can be crystallized when an Englishman subordinates and converts a non-European Other. ...