THE FOLIO SOCIETY

In 1709 Alexander Selkirk was rescued from a small island where he had survived for four years alone, keeping himself sane by singing psalms. In his story, Daniel Defoe found the inspiration for his greatest character - Robinson Crusoe. Although filled with adventures such as fighting cannibals and mutineers, it is Crusoe's battles with the daily problems of physical and mental survival that are the most interesting. We delight in his ingenious solutions, whether making a wheelbarrow or continuing his diary after his ink runs out. Defoe once described his style of writing as 'lying like the truth'. The story is carefully constructed, yet sounds so convincingly real that the reader believes he is reading an autobiography. It was a revolutionary idea and Defoe's innovative style formed the foundations for the flowering of the English novel.