THE ECONOMICS OF ROBINSON CRUSOE

David Edmundson

English 630

Professor Laura Mandell

Few works of literature have inspired as much response as Robinson Crusoe. In the approximately 275 years since its publication it has inspired hundreds of critiques and imitations. The image of the lone man on his island has been used as an experimental model for discussions of a variety of ideas, but most especially for those which reflect on social and economic issues. Daniel Defoe himself took a great interest in partisan politics and was a prolific spokesman for the views and interests of the emerging middle class. Many have viewed his novels, and especially Robinson Crusoe, as vehicles for exploring and expressing the concerns of that class.

In this bibliography I have included works which are concerned with class and economics. It could be argued that colonialism, individualism, morality, politics, and puritanism are also tangential to the aforementioned topics. In this project, however, I have tried to focus narrowly on the topics of class and economics. In the section titled "Robinson Crusoe and Class," only works which deal with both are included. The same holds for "Robinson Crusoe and Economics." In the last section, "Economic Theory," I have included works which were contemporaneous with the publication of Robinson Crusoe, or those which comment on that period. Authors have used the story to prove any variety of economic points. Rather than focus on any one economic school, I have preferred to let the variety of interpretations speak to the significance of the constant element -- the story of one man in a struggle for survival.

In compiling this bibliography I have relied on two published bibliographies of Defoe's works. For older sources Daniel Defoe, a reference guide, 1731-1924 by Spiro Peterson (Boston: G.K. Hall & Co. 1987) is an excellent resource. Likewise, John A. Stoler's Daniel Defoe, an annotated bibliography of modern criticism, 1900-1980 carries the bulk of twentieth century information. For those interested in looking into related issues, I recommend both works. For those in the southwest Ohio area, the Peterson collection is in the Special Collections department of the King Library at Miami University, and includes copies of all (or nearly all) of the items in the Peterson guide, and many others besides. The richness of the material on Robinson Crusoe is one indication of the ability of this story to engage the imaginations of almost three centuries' readers and writers. It is almost as if Robinson Crusoe were a pop star whose relevance to the values and ideals of modern society constitutes a powerful cultural force. Whether treated as hero or villain, the character of the lone individual in the wilderness has mattered and still seems to matter to the worlds of literature and ideas.

ROBINSON CRUSOE AND CLASS--MIDDLE, BOURGEOIS

Black, Sidney J. "Eighteenth Century `Histories` as a Fictional Mode." Boston University Studies in English, 1 (1955), 38-44. (Stoler)

Defoe disguised fiction as fact in order to appeal to moral sense of middle-class. Author claims Defoe helped create a new fictional mode. (Stoler)

Coetzee, J.M. "The Agentless Sentence as Rhetorical Device." Language and Style: An International Journal, 13 (1980), 26-34.

Use of passive voice for father's advice allows Defoe to present Crusoe's success as natural, bourgeoisie as all-deserving. (Stoler)

Daiches, David. A Critical History of English Literature. Vol.II. New York: Ronald Press, 1960.

Defoe treats literature as journalism by writing everything as factual. Crusoe embodies "middle-class economic values;" religion is businesslike. (Stoler)

D'Haen, Theo. "Robinson Crusoe and La Jalousie." Revue des Langues Vivantes, 44 (1978), 28-36.

The two works are compared using Barthes' terminology to demonstrate that Crusoe expresses bourgeois colonial myth and La Jalousie subverts it. The novels represent, respectively, the rise and fall of the bourgeoisie. (Stoler)

Karl, Frederick R. "Daniel Defoe: The Politics of Necessity." The Adversary Literature: The English Novel in the Eighteenth Century, A Study in Genre. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975. Pp. 68-98.

The author considers Defoe's fiction as undermining bourgeois values. Crusoe ignores his father's advice and finds his own way in the world. (Stoler)

Kettle, Arnold. "The 18th Century Novel in England." Estudios sobre los generos literarios, I: Grecia clasica e Ingleterra. Eds. Javier Coy and Javier de Hoz. Salamanca: University de Salamanca, 1975. Pp. 149-160.

The rise of the novel is attributed to the settlement of 1688 and Defoe's fiction reflects the tension between the strengths and dangers of the rising bourgeoisie. (Stoler)

Legouis, Emile, and Louis Cazamian. "De Foe." In Histoire de la litterature anglaise. Paris: Hachette, 1924. Pp. 749-54.

In general discussion of Defoe's works and European reaction, the authors see Defoe as expressing the voice of the "average bourgeoisie" for the first time. Crusoe represents the "rude and patient effort through which civilization is born." (Peterson)

Michel-Michot, Paulette. "The myth of Innocence." Revue des Langues Vivantes, 28 (1962), 510-20.

Two Robinsonades (Lord of the Flies and The Coral Island) are compared and the latter represents the innocent products of British colonialism, symbolized by the Crusoe story--middle-class and puritan. (Stoler)

Pearlman, E. "Robinson Crusoe and the Cannibals." Mosaic, 10 (1976), 39-55.

The author applies Freudianism and Marxism to Robinson Crusoe and describes middle-class individualism and colonialism as neurotic. (Stoler)

Rogers, Pat. "Crusoe's Home." Essays in Criticism, 24 (1974), 375-90.

Rejecting analyses of middle-class exploitation and primitive-in-nature, the author suggests that Crusoe's story is really about bourgeois domesticity, based on the preponderance of his activity on the island and the feelings he expresses about his "home." (Stoler)

Shinagel, Michael. Daniel Defoe and Middle-Class Gentility. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1968. (Stoler)

Defoe embodied middle-class attitudes and was spokesman for middle-class interests. The author examines middle-class gentility in three sections: "The Making of a Middle-Class Gentleman;" "Middle-Class Gentility in Defoe's Fiction;" and "The Tradesman as Gentleman." (Stoler)

Stein, William Bysshe. "Robinson Crusoe: The Trickster Tricked." Centennial Review, 9 (1965), 271-88.

Defoe used conscious irony in showing the immorality and materialistic ambition of Crusoe, who the author describes as an "illogical, cowardly buffoon." From this is deduced Defoe's intention to demonstrate the importance of the bourgeoisie and reconcile its materialism and spirituality. (Stoler)

Swallow, Alan. "Defoe and the Art of Fiction." Western Humanities Review, 4 (1950), 129-36. Reprinted in The University of Denver Quarterly, 2 (1967), 82-92.

Among other themes, Defoe portrayed middle-class man as isolated individual focused on economic problems. (Stoler)

Thornburg, Thomas R. "Robinson Crusoe." Ball State University Forum, 15, iii (1974), 11-18.

Crusoe represents the middle-class condition of making a way in the world through ordinary, unexciting struggle. (Stoler)

Tillyard, E.M.W. "Defoe." The Epic Strain in the English Novel. London: Chatto and Windus; Fairlawn, NJ: Essential Books, 1958. Pp. 25-50.

Crusoe represents the isolated individual of protestant theology whose epic story is limited by the "middle-class ethos whose choric expression it was." (Stoler)

Toliver, Harold. Animate Illusions: Explorations of Narrative Structure. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1974.

Foreshadowing provides structural coherence and reflects middle-class desire to control/order events/nature. (Stoler)

Vinet, Alexandre. "Robinson." Revue suisse, 7 (January 1844), 10-29.

Crusoe is compared to many other versions of the solitary man (Sophocles' Philoctetes and Campe's German Robinsonade, e.g.) and his appeal attributed to his ordinariness--his identification with the middle class. (Peterson)

West, Alick. The Mountain in the Sunlight: Studies in Conflict and Unity. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1958.

The author takes a Marxist approach to questions of money and human relations in Robinson Crusoe. Crusoe first rejects middle-class position, but then ends up a bourgeois exploiter. (Stoler)

ROBINSON CRUSOE AND ECONOMICS

Carnochan, W.B. Confinement and Flight: An Essay on English Literature in the Eighteenth Century. Berkeley and Los Angeles: U of California P, 1977.

Rather than economics or spirituality, Robinson Crusoe is read as bourgeois psychology. The footprint turns Crusoe away from materiality inward toward himself and may symbolize the "authorial presence" which plays an important role in the development of the novel. (Stoler)

Codman, John S. "Robinson Crusoe Up-To-Date." Freeman, 5(126), (1922), 514-16.

The Crusoe story is retold in terms of early 20th century industrial economy to argue for private ownership of land as long as land can be converted to cash so as to guarantee access to resources to modern industry. (Peterson)

Curtis, Laura Ann Goldsmith. A Defoe Anthology: Writings on Politics, Economics, and History with Explanatory Essays and Introduction. Ph.D. Dissertation: Rutgers U of New Jersey, 1974. (Dissertation Abstracts International, Vol. 35-02).

Green, Martin Burgess. The Robinson Crusoe Story. University Park: Pennsylvania UP, 1990.

The main thrust of this work is to discuss the variety of versions of the Crusoe story that have been (and are still being) produced. In the process, the author notes that the vast majority have come from Britain, France, and Germany, all of which were major participants in the growth of capitalism and colonialism.

Hearne, John. "The Naked Footprint: An Inquiry Into Crusoe's Island." Review of English Literature, 8 (1967), 97-107.

Through Crusoe, Defoe comes to terms with "active creation of new wealth." Because of isolation, man can find meaning in life only through exploitation of nature. (Stoler)

Hill, William N. "Defoe: Political Economist." Tom Watson's Magazine New York 3(2) (December 1905), 187-92.

Hill claims Defoe was a pioneer political economist whose concerns were welfare of the masses and republican political interests. Defoe's influence on Benjamin Franklin is seen as a link between English and American Revolutions. (Peterson)

Hubener, Gustav. "Der Kaufmann Robinson Crusoe." Englische Studien, 54(3) (1920) 367-98.

Comparing various schools of interpretation, the author posits a reading of Defoe and Crusoe as models of the early middle class. Crusoe exhibits capitalist behavior (calculation, mercantilism, entrepreneurialism) which is influenced by protestant ideals (reason, moderation, industry.) (Peterson)

Hymer, Stephen. "Robinson Crusoe and Primitive Accumulation." Monthly Review, 23 (September 1971), 11-36.

A socialist reading of Robinson Crusoe describes Crusoe as capitalist exploiter of Friday and his island, whose wealth is paid for by isolation and gained by greed, distrust, and ruthlessness. (Stoler)

Hume, David. Political Discourses, by David Hume, esq. Edinburgh: Printed by R. Fleming for A. Kincaid and A. Donaldson, 1752.

Jacobsen, Susan L. A Dialogue of Commerce: Economics and Literature in Eighteenth Century Britain (Defoe Daniel, Pope Alexander, Smollet Tobias). Ph.D. Dissertation: U of Iowa, 1990. (Dissertation Abstracts International, Vol. 52-03).

The participation of the three authors in a loud and angry debate about economic issues surrounding the emergent middle class demonstrates the endurance of economics as a public issue. Defoe's attitudes are formed by his class, but reflect a contradictory understanding of the values and perils of commerce.

Marx, Karl. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Translated by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling. Edited by Frederick Engels. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr & Co., 1926, 1:88-91.

Marx describes Crusoe as "independent modern man" in contrast to dependency of middle ages, who represents various modes of labor and illustrates value as commodities relationship to labor and use. (Peterson)

Meier, Thomas Keith. Defoe and the defense of commerce. Victoria, B.C., Canada: English Literary Studies, U of Victoria, 1987.

The author presents a general view of British commerce in the period leading up to the literary career of Defoe and includes a discussion of his political/social views and the probable state of his economic knowledge.

Novak, Maximillian E. "Robinson Crusoe and Economic Utopia." Kenyon Review, 25 (1963), 474-90.

The author analyzes the novel as economic treatise. Defoe expresses value as utility, and labor and invention as the source of value, following Locke. The claiming of the island follows theories of Grids and Pufendorf. (Stoler)

Passy, Frederic. "Robinson et Vendredi ou la naissance du capital." Revue economique de Bordeaux (March 1893), 1-16.

In a presentation at a conference, Passy uses Crusoe and Friday to argue that labor and capital are mutually reenforcing rather than in conflict. Crusoe possesses moral and intellectual capital, which labor (his and Friday's) transforms into material capital. (Peterson)

Rogers, Pat. Robinson Crusoe. Unwin Critical Library. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1979.

Ideas of economics, class, self improvement, and solitude are discussed in Chapter four. (Stoler)

Rousseau, Jean Jacques. Emile: ou de l'Education. 2 vols. Frankfurt: [n.p.] 1762, 2:41-48.

In addition to the strong influence Rousseau had on the many retellings of the Robinson Crusoe story, he uses Crusoe as a model of development for Emile's education as a preparatory step for joining society and working in it -- a description of the "division and distribution of labor." (Peterson)

Schmidt, Arnold Anthony. Lost at Sea: Sailors, Slaves, and Literary Polemics. Ph.D. Dissertation: Vanderbilt U, 1994. (Dissertation Abstracts International, Vol. 56-01).

The commercial sailor was an agent of imperialism and a literary trope whose depiction illustrates the ways literature naturalized imperialism by aestheticizing it. Robinson Crusoe is classed with the "mercantile mariners" and described as a personification of empire, trade, and economic advancement.

Sherman, Sandra. The Poetics of Trade: Finance and Fictionality in the Early Eighteenth Century (Defoe Daniel). Ph.D. Dissertation: U of Pennsylvania, 1993. (Dissertation Abstracts International, Vol. 54-03).

The connection between fiction and credit is one of the reasons Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe in a realistic style. People feared the textual elements of long term credit (stock certificates, bills of exchange, e.g.) as fictions, printed in the same sense (and by the same people) as romances and other dangerous fictions. Fiction was not yet a formalistic category, but rather an epistomological problem, which the public responded to by demanding "transparency" from the authors of novels and stock certificates.

Ward, William Randall. The Reconciliation of God and Mammon: Ethics and Economic Change from Baxter to Pope (Baxter Richard, Locke John, Defoe Daniel, Mandeville Bernard, Pope Alexander). Ph.D. Dissertation: U of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1995. (Dissertation Abstracts International, Vol. 56-07)

The apparent conflicts between commerce and ethics were the subjects of literature. Defoe expressed both an ethical conservatism (in his Compleat English Tradesman) and very liberal attitudes when he argued that the need to survive justified "special ethical license," including deceptive trade practices.

Watt, Ian. The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding. London: Chatto and Windus; Berkeley and Los Angeles: U of California P, 1957.

Crusoe reflects economic ideas of early eighteenth century--individualism and subordination of relationships to economic values. (Stoler)

Wells, David A. Robinson Crusoe's Money; or, The Remarkable Financial Fortunes and Misfortunes of a Remote Island Community. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1876.

The author uses the episode of finding the bags of money to make a comparison between Crusoe's island and the monetary policies of the U.S. during the Civil War. Economic concepts include price, utility, and value. (Peterson)

White, Michael. "Reading and Rewriting: The Production of an Economic Robinson Crusoe." Southern Review: Literary and Interdisciplinary Essays.15(2) 1982, 115-142.

ECONOMIC THEORY

Chamberlayne, Edward. The Present State of England. London: Printed for William Whitwood, 1683.

The title page continues: containing I. an account of the riches, strength, natural production, manufactures of this island, with an exact catalogue of the nobility, and their seats, &c., II. the trade and commerce within it self, and with all countries traded to by the English, as at this day established, and all other matters relating to inland and marine affairs: supplying what is omitted from the two former parts... to which is added on title page to part 4: England's guide to industry. (Wing C1844)

Davenant, Charles. Discourses on the publick revenues, and on the trade of England:. London: Printed for James Knapton, 1698.

The title page continues: in two parts, viz. I. Of the use of political arithmetick, in all considerations about the revenues and trade, II. On credit, and the means and methods by which it may be restored, III. On the management of the King's revenues, IV. Whither to form the revenues may not, in this juncture, be most for the publick service?, V. On the public debts and engagements / by the author of The essay on ways and means. The parts I and II referred to on the title page have to do with a translation with commentary on an economic treatise written by Xenophon (I), and as essay on the East India trade (II).

Gide, Charles, and Charles Rist. A History of Economic Doctrines From the Time of the Physiocrats to the Present Day. Authorized translation by R. Richards. Boston: D.C. Heath, 1948.

The authors trace the development of economic thought from the physiocrats to the end of the 19th century as representatives of what they refer to as the "French school of economics." Included with the analysis of the physiocrats is a discussion of their critics (Malthus and Ricardo, e.g.) and an examination of Marxist thought published originally in 1898.

Hirschman, Albert O. The Passions and the Interests, Political Arguments for Capitalism before its Triumph. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1977.

Capitalist behavior was the indirect and unlooked-for effect of a search for individual salvation. In contrast to examining the unexpected outcome of individualism, the author asks why the predicted outcomes failed to occur. Economic development was supposed to have a stabilizing, anti-despotic effect on European society. Instead, capitalism has produced world wars, colonialism, genocide, and alienation. In addition, the triumph of interest over passion, besides prompting the romantic movement, has robbed modern life of color and joy. In making these points, Hirschman traces the evolution of economic theory from Machiavelli to Adam Smith.

McCulloch, John Ramsay, and John Locke. Principles of Political Economy: with sketch of the rise and progress of the science. By J.R. McCulloch. Essay on Interest and Value of Money. By John Locke. London: A. Murray & Co., 1872.

Marx, Karl. A History of Economic Theories. Edited with a pref., by Karl Kautsky. Translated from the French, with an introd. and notes, by Terence McCarthy. New York: Langland P, 1952.

Kautsky refers to this volume as the collected notes Marx prepared for writing Capital, notes which were never intended for publication. Engels, as Marx's literary executor, began the editing process and turned it over to Kautsky as he neared death. Here are presented Marx's analysis of economic thought beginning with the physiocrats and extending to Adam

Massie, Joseph. Joseph Massie on Natural Trade and Interest, 1750. Baltimore" The Lord Baltimore P, 1912 (reprint).

Smith, with commentary on many of the political economists in between.

North, Dudley North, Baron. Observations and advices oeconomical. London: Printed by T.R. for John Martyn, 1669. [Microfilm. Ann Arbor, MI.: University Microfilms, 1975. (Early English Books, 1641-1700; 544:12)]

This work is attributed to Dudley North and deals with domestic affairs - - household and family.

Petty, William, Sir. The economic writings of Sir William Petty, together with the observations upon the bills of mortality, more probably by Captain John Graunt, ed. by Charles Henry Hull. Cambridge: UP, 1899.

Sismondi, J.C.L. Simonde de. New Principles of Political Economy: of wealth in its relation to population; translated and annotated by Richard Hyse; with a forward by Robert Heilbroner. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1991.

Smith, Adam. An inquiry into the nature and causes of The wealth of nations/ by Adam Smith; edited by Edwin Cannan; with a new preface by George Stigler. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1976.

Statt, Daniel. Foreigners and Englishmen: the controversy over immigration and population, 1660-1760. Newark: U of Delaware P, 1995.

This book deals with the era of English history which includes the life of Defoe, and treats with government policy (and non-policy) regarding

immigration, emigration, refugees, and population.

Steuart, James, Sir. An Inquiry into the principles of political economy: being an essay on the science of domestic policy in free nations.../by Sir James

Steuart. Dublin: Printed for James Williams and Richard Moncrieffe, 1770.