Abstract
“Necessity is the mother of inventions” could undoubtedly be regarded as one of Daniel Defoe (1660 – 1731)'s favourite proverb, and indeed, he employed the maxim in his History of Trade, writing: “Necessity which is the Mother, and Convenience which is the Handmaid of Invention, first Directed Mankind from these Originals, to Contrive Supplies and Support of Life”. Actually, this common motto operates rather well on Robinson Crusoe, the eponymous main character and narrator of The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an uninhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pyrates -which is the full title of the masterpiece. Published as a fictional chronicle in 1719, the book met with such a huge success that its author quickly went on writing two lesser-known sequels to it, The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe and The Serious Reflections of Robinson Crusoe, neither of which attracted as much consideration as the original. The genuine story of Alexander Selkirk, popularized through diverse narratives during the eighteenth century, is usually held to represent the major source for Robinson Crusoe.
