Robinson Crusoe

He was a simple journalist, a mercenary of writing and a dreaded pamphleteer, who created overnight one of the founding myths of Western modernity, with Don Quixote and Faust. For the essence of our culture and civilization is indeed contained in Robinson Crusoe: the triumph of commercial capitalism, with its apothecary accounts, its rationalism and its cult of efficiency; The advent of slavery, colonialism, racism and a Christianity oriented towards individual salvation; The allegory of a soul doubly entrenched in its island and in its impregnable fort. Quest for an impossible happiness, a meditation on solitude, a monologue worthy of Job's lamentations, this text far exceeds its literary framework and the poetry of a simple and direct language, the energy of an alert thought, Structure our most secret dreams. --Scarbo