ROBINSON'S ADVENTURES AT SEA

PART 1

Robinson's Adventures at sea

I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York in England.

My father was of a good family. He was a merchant from Bremen in Germany. He settled in England and made his fortune in trade, then he married. My mother's family name was Robinson. I was baptized Robinson Kreutznaer. However, in England we were always called Crusoe, so my friends call me Robinson Crusoe.

I had two brothers. One became a soldier and was killed in a battle against the Spaniards. I do not know what happened to my other brother. My father hoped I would study law, but I wanted to go to sea. Although my mother and father did not want me to go, my desire was so strong that I ignored their wishes.

My father was a wise and serius man. He said that if I stayed at home my life would be easy and pleasant. Only desperate men or very fortunate men went abroad, he said. I was neither desperate nor very fortunate. Mine was the middle state,* and he thought that the middle state was the best.The poor life had a difficult life, and the rich were hated by the poor,said he.In the middle state a man could be happy.Kings often regretted* that they were not born in the middle state, and wise men prayed to have neither proverty nor wealth*.He said that the greatest misfortunes in life were suffered by the rich and the poor. Only the man in the middle state can live in peace. He said that moderation, quietness,and good health were the conditions of the middle state.

He begged* me not to abandon this happy conditions. He told me that he had begged my brother no to become a soldier for the same rasons. However, my brother has run away to the army, and now he was dead. He said that God would not bless* me if I went to sea, and thet I would be sorry I had ignored my father's advice.

*middle state: neither rich, nor poor.

*regretted: were sorry (past of the verb 'to regret´)

*wealth. a large amount of money.

*begger: asked humbly for something (past of the verb ´to beg´)

*bless: (here) make happy, ask for God's help and protection.

READING 2

ROBINSON CRUSOE

ORIGINS OF THE BOOK

When Defoe started writing Robinson Crusoe, it seems almost sure that he had in mind Captain Woodes Rogers'A Cruising Voyage Round the World.

The book told about the experiences of the sailor Alexander Selkirk who, in 1704, after a quarrel with the captain of the ship on which he worked, asked to be left on the desert island of Juan Fernández. Selkirk remained on the island until  1709, when he was rescued by a ship commanded by a captain named Rogers.

READING

ROBINSON CRUSOE

CHRONOLOGY

1660 ?               Daniel Defoe was born in London. His father was a merchant and belonged to a                                 Protestant sect. He refused to register his son's birth in the books of his parish, as a                            consecuence, Daniel's date of birth is not sure.

                        Young Daniel was educated at the College of Stoke Newington.

1683           He was already an established merchant and travelled on business in Europe for about                          three years

1685            Took part in a rebellion against the Catholic King James II.

1688           Joined William of Orange's army.

1692          Went bankrupt and ventured into joutnalism and literature.

1702          Published  The Shortest Way with Dissenters a pamphlet attacking the State Church                              which caused his imprisonment in Newgate for six months.

1704-13     Published his political nwspaper The Review.

1719          Turned to prose fiction which he considered a profitable activity.
                  Robinson Crusoe was published and it was so successful that it was reprinted several
                  times; moreover,within four months of its publication, it was followed by The
                  Father Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.

1720          Publication of Capitan Singleton about a captain who turned into a pirate.

1722          Publication of Moll Flanders, the autobiography of a prostitute.

1724          Publication of Lady Roxana, the autobiography of a courtesan.

1731         Defoe died alone and friendless.