Seven Novels

#6 Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe

I have always hated the scenes where Friday kowtows to Crusoe, who assumes he has a perfect right to lordship over this naked human. Many societies East and West, North and South have made similar errors when ascendant. Other than that flaw, this is a wonderful book.

In Robinson Crusoe, we see a rogue’s spiritual transformation and development while living as a castaway on an island. Crusoe's narrative of prayer and salvation is so clear that a Japanese boy named Neesima Shimeta, learning English, read this and became a Christian. He returned to evangelize Japan.

Crusoe learns to husband and multiply his limited resources. Some people might be turned off by his detailed catalogs of stock, and descriptions of survival methods. I always found them enjoyable. It may be owing to the same traits that made me a librarian.

Defoe’s book is said to be the first true English-language novel. English fiction could not have started with a better example.

Continue with the countdown: Book #5