[Added by Philip V. Allingham]

The appearance of a French edition with new illustrations points to the fact that throughout much of the eighteenth century Robinson Crusoe was more highly regarded in France than in England. In the following year, 1762, Rousseau published his Emile, in which he promoted Robinson Crusoe as the best treatise on natural education, and a splendid example of the value of acquiring self-sufficiency and hence independence of judgment for the young Emile, who is actively encouraged to identify himself with Crusoe. Rousseau's testimony helped Robinson Crusoe to become a world classic, but it also indicates a significant shift in emphasis from moral admonition to personal involvement, and ultimately to romantic escapism, which may be felt in subsequent illustration. [Blewett, p. 31]

Bibliography

Blewett, David. "Robinson Crusoe, Friday, and the Noble Savage: The Illustration of the Rescue of Friday Scene in the Eighteenth Century." Man and Nature, 5 (1986): 29–49.


Last modified 16 January 2018