Landscape, Culture, and Education in Defoe's Robinson Crusoe

• Published in: CLCWeb : Comparative literature and culture 2012-09, Vol.14 (3)
• Main Authors: Vandermeersche, Geert, Soetaert, Ronald
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Belgium; Bildungsroman; British & Irish literature; Childrens literature; Civilization; Criticism and interpretation; Culture; culture and sociology; Defoe, Daniel; Defoe, Daniel (1660-1731); Ecocriticism; Education; English literature; Exegesis & hermeneutics; Folklore; Ideology; Individualism; Landscape; Literary characters; Literary criticism; Literary devices; Literary influences; Literature; Metaphor; Narrative structure; Narrative techniques; Narrative theme; Narratives; Nature; Novelists; Novels; Pedagogy; Plot (Narrative); Portrayals; Readers; Social aspects; Travel literature
• ISSN: 1481-4374; 1481-4374
• DOI: 10.7771/1481-4374.2043

In their article "Landscape, Culture, and Education in Defoe's Robinson Crusoe" Geert Vandermeersche and Ronald Soetaert discuss Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe as a narrative that translates nature and our dealings with it into a literary text. Vandeermeersche and Soetaert postulate that the novel can be read as a quintessential fable of humans' cultivation of nature and the creation of individuality, which, at the same time, provides its readers with strategies for describing processes such as education. Robinson Crusoe and its characters, metaphors, and scenarios function in the "auto-communication" of culture as an enduring equipment for living (Burke), a company readers keep (Booth), and a cognitive tool in modern Western culture.