Scholars today deem Robinson Crusoe the first British novel. Defoe's construction of Crusoe as the atypical British traveler asserts his collective subjectivity within the framework of intimate personal experiences, accentuating his individualism. Yet, as scholars of Orientalism and Transatlantic theory can attest, calling Robinson Crusoe the first novel provides problematic methodologies that arise from affiliating the novel form to a structure associated the British colonialism and fashioning a "superior" British subject. In this essay, I work to emphasize the hybridity present within the novel, utilize historical context to provide a voice to marginalized Indigenous Americans to show how the format relies upon a relationship between collectivism and individualism, assert Indigenous voices matter in the novel, and analyze the relationship of a new collectivism that arises from narratives that cross into American spaces.

Franz Baermann Steiner [1909-1952], à la fois poeta doctus de langue allemande et anthropologue de langue anglaise, développe dans son oeuvre une pensée qui préfigure la théorie postcoloniale, d’une part par sa critique de l’eurocentrisme, de l’impérialisme colonial et de la violence épistémique occidentale, et d’autre part, à travers son ethnopoésie et la réécriture poétique du mythe robinsonien. La présente étude s'attache à analyser le discours postcolonial dans l’ensemble de son oeuvre qui comprend plus de 9500 aphorismes, quelques 300 poèmes et des écrits scientifiques. Présentant l’arrière-plan culturel et l’identité de Steiner, qui sont comparés à ceux des intellectuels postcolonialistes, l’étude examine d’abord les éventuelles structures coloniales dans l’Empire austro-hongrois, de la situation sociopolitique en Bohême et à Prague pendant la première République Tchèque. Ainsi elle révèle les éléments structurels qui ont favorisé l’éclosion du discours postcolonial chez Steiner : la position liminale et le caractère hybride de la communauté d’origine de Steiner – les juifs pragois germanophones –, l’impact discursif du sionisme culturel, son exil en Angleterre et, enfin, son appartenance à la Social Anthropology. Ensuite, elle retrace le discours aux accents postcoloniaux, depuis son origine dans ses aphorismes, dans son oeuvre anthropologique et poétique. La liminalité, notion centrale du postcolonialisme, est omniprésente dans l’oeuvre de l’auteur tant sur le plan méthodologique [positionnement discursif contestataire ou observateur] que thématique [esclavage, tabou, poète chaman, exil]. Malgré l’attachement de l’auteur à la pensée essentialiste, l'hybridité constitue un élément essentiel de son identité, irriguant toute son oeuvre. [Traduisibilité de faits culturels, ethnopoésie hybride, figure robinsonienne hybride]. / Franz Baermann Steiner [1909-1952], an exile from Prague, was a German poeta doctus who taught anthropology at the Oxford Institute after the Second World War. In his oeuvre, comprising more than 9500 aphorisms, over 300 poems and also anthropological writings, he sketches a critique of eurocentrism, colonial imperialism and epistemic violence, thus anticipating postcolonial theory. The first part of our thesis analyses how an assimilated Jew from Prague developed a discourse that takes up notions developed in the writings of Aimé Césaire and Edward Said. It therefore offers a complete analysis of his background in the Habsburg Empire from a post-colonial point of view, and an evaluation of the linguistic and social politics in Bohemia and Prague during the first Czech Republic. The study focuses, on the one hand, on the hybrid and liminal character of his milieu [i.e. German Jews in Prague] as well as the decisive discursive impact of cultural Zionism and, on the other hand, on his exile in England and the influence of British Social Anthropology. These are, from our point of view, the key elements of the post-colonial discourse emerging in Steiner’s writings. Taking his aphorisms as a starting point, our study then follows up the post-colonial thought in the entire oeuvre of the poet and anthropologist, underlining the various links between poetry, religion and science which are so characteristic of his original writings. The concept of liminality is present in all his writings on a methodological level [a liminal discursive positioning within the Western academic structures and an observant position in his poetry] and it also dominates the choice of themes [slavery, taboo, Shaman poet and exile]. Although Steiner never completely abandoned the essentialist vision of culture, the notion of hybridity is an essential factor of his identity, enriching his writings immensely [e.g. problem of cultural translatability, hybrid ethnopoetics and a new hybrid Robinson figure].

Hayy Bin Yaqzan is a famous Arabic narrative written by the Muslim philosopher Abu Bakr Ibn Tufail in the twelfth century and translated first into Latin by Edward Pocock, the son, in 1671, then into English by George Keith in 1674, by George Ashwell in 1686, and by Simon Ockley in 1708. Ibn Tufail's work is mentioned in connection with Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, which appeared in 1719, by many critics who either accentuate or repudiate its significance as a possible source. This study goes beyond the off-hand question of derivation to compare these two analogous books, not to take part in the long-standing dispute but to inquire into the premises it stands upon and investigate its motivating grounds. After pointing out the identical settings of two men each stranded on a desert island, this study proceeds to analyze the approach of each book to the relationship between man and Nature. In the process of mastering their environments, Hayy and Crusoe awaken to the providential presence behind natural forces and learn to regulate themselves within the divine scheme and to form strong relations with God. The narratives of Ibn Tufail and Defoe share a concern not only with their heroes' solitude but also with their attitudes toward society, which threatens their sense of individuality. Whereas Hayy prefers his solitary state to immersion in human society and remains on his island accompanied only by one faithful apostle, Crusoe eagerly sails back to the world of men, although he too adjusts poorly to the spirit of society and spends the rest of his life roaming the globe. Examining the technical aspects of Robinson Crusoe and Hayy Bin Yaqzan, their narrative methods, their chronological order, their structure, style, and delineation of character, the study concludes that although the two books belong to different genres, they are still more similar than ordinarily assumed. It also finds that the question of indebtedness, which may never be resolved, is less significant than the broader similarities in cultural, political, and religious circumstances which may be at work.

Embedded within various works of Eighteenth-Century literature lie themes regarding how the protagonists of these stories pursue their own versions of happiness. This thesis examines how characters from a wide variety of Eighteenth-Century novels engage with their surroundings, often resisting the dominant social structures of the time, to fashion more fulfilling lives for themselves. From Robinson Crusoe to Elizabeth Bennet to Frankenstein's monster, these characters come from a wide variety of backgrounds but all reveal several unifying themes. They seek out personal connections rather that striving to fulfill antiquated social expectations and they focus on their own agency, rather than circumstances out of their control. Their respective journeys are often fraught with peril, but each one is a journey worth embarking on.

SOMMAIRE Cette recherche est basée sur l’étude de la pièce Adieu, Robinson, écrite par Julio Cortazar pour le théâtre radiophonique en 1977. Publiée en 1984, elle a été rééditée en 1995 –après le décès de son auteur– et diffusée, vers la fin des années 70, sur tous les continents. L’analyse de l’œuvre a été réalisée en tenant compte de deux orientations différentes mais complémentaires: l’une plus formelle ou technique et l’autre idéologique. Il y a, d’abord, l’étude du théâtre radiophonique comme discours qui utilise un langage spécifique –le langage radiophonique– et suppose un “théâtre écrit pour la radio”, et ce, à partir des œuvres de Rudolf Arnheim, Armand Balsebre et Etienne Fuzellier. Puis, il y a une mise en contexte de la pièce en faisant référence à la situation particulièrement mouvementée de l’Amérique latine, pendant les années 70, en mettant en rapport le sujet de la “décolonisation” avec celui de la libération. Avant d’aborder le sujet du théâtre radiophonique –ce qui inclut ses origines en Argentine, les premières pièces et les caractéristiques du format– et en prenant comme référence l’auteur Jésus Martin-Barbero, nous revoyons brièvement l’histoire du mélodrame, ce spectacle de forte valeur émotionnelle présent en Amérique latine, notamment, dans le théâtre radiophonique et le feuilleton télévisé. Suivant une revue des caractéristiques concernant le style d’écriture de Cortazar, nous analysons la pièce théâtrale d’un point de vue qui tient compte, principalement, des catégories d’espace et de temps, particulièrement importantes dans l’étude d’une œuvre radiophonique. Finalement, cette étude prétend démontrer que le but de Julio Cortazar, en écrivant Adieu, Robinson, n’était pas de proposer un passe-temps radiophonique, mais plutôt d’atteindre un public plus vaste via un puissant moyen de communication en lui offrant une fable anticolonialiste. Mots-clés : Cortazar, Robinson Crusoé, décolonisation, sémiologie du théâtre radiophonique. / This research work is based on the study of the play Adiós, Robinson (Goodbye, Robinson), a radio script written by Julio Cortázar in 1977, published in 1984, reedited in 1995 -after the death of the author-, and broadcast in every continent in the late 1970s. The analysis of this piece was carried out taking into consideration two different but complementary perspectives: one more formal or technical and the other ideological. Thus, on the one hand, radio drama is examined as a type of discourse that uses a specific language -radiophonic language-, and constitutes “a theatrical presentation written for radio", based on the works of Rudolf Arnheim, Armand Balsebre and Etienne Fuzellier. On the other hand, the text contextualized by referring to the troubled situation in Latin America in the 1970s, and relating the topic of "decolonization" to that of liberation. Before addressing the subject of radio drama -including its origins in Argentina, the first pieces for radio, and the characteristics of its format- and taking the author Jesús Martín-Barbero as a source of reference, a brief history of melodrama is presented. This genre, characterized by strong emotional content, is very much present in Latin America, particularly in radio drama and soap operas. After describing Cortázar’s writing style, the script is analyzed from a viewpoint that focuses mainly on the categories of space and time, which are especially of interest when studying a piece of radio drama. Finally, this study pretends to demonstrate that Julio Cortázar did not write Adiós, Robinson as a mere piece of radio entertainment. On the contrary, the author, aware of the power exercised by this type of media, uses it to reach a wider audience and present it with an anti-colonial fable.

This study revises a dominant narrative of the eighteenth-century, in which a secular modernity emerges in opposition to religious belief. It argues that a major challenge for writers such as Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe, and for English subjects generally, was to grasp the object world--including the modern technological object--in terms of its spiritual potential. I identify disputes around the liturgy and common prayer as a source of a folk psychology concerning mental habits conditioned by everyday interactions with devotional and cultural objects. Swift and Defoe therefore confront even paradigmatically modern forms (from trade items to scientific techniques) as a spiritual ecology, a network of new possibilities for practical piety and familiar forms of mental-spiritual illness. Texts like A Tale of a tub (1704) and Robinson Crusoe (1719) renew Reformation ideals for the laity by evaluating technologies for governing a nation of souls. Swift and Defoe's Protestantism thus appears as an active guide to understanding emotions and new experience rather than a static body of doctrine. Current historiography neglects the early modern sense that sectarian objects and rituals not only discipline religious subjects, but also provoke ambivalence and anxiety: Swift's Tale diagnoses Catholic knavery and Puritan hypocrisy as neurotic attempts to extract pleasure from immiserating styles of material praxis. Crusoe, addressed to more radical believers in spaces of trade, sees competent spiritual, scientific and commercial practice on the same plane, as techniques for overcoming fetishistic desires. Swift's orthodoxy of enforced moderation and Defoe's oddly worldly piety represent likeminded formulae for psychic reform, and not--as often alleged--conflicts between sincere belief and political or commercial interests. Gulliver's travels (1726) and A Journal of the plague year (1722) also link mind and governance through different visions of Protestant polity. Swift sees alienation from the national church--figured by a Crusoe or Gulliver--as refusal of common sense and problem solving. Defoe points to religious schism, exemplified by dissenters' exclusion from state church statistics, as a moral and medical failure: the city risks creating selfish citizens who also may overlook data needed to combat the plague. / text

SOMMAIRE Cette recherche est basée sur l’étude de la pièce Adieu, Robinson, écrite par Julio Cortazar pour le théâtre radiophonique en 1977. Publiée en 1984, elle a été rééditée en 1995 –après le décès de son auteur– et diffusée, vers la fin des années 70, sur tous les continents. L’analyse de l’œuvre a été réalisée en tenant compte de deux orientations différentes mais complémentaires: l’une plus formelle ou technique et l’autre idéologique. Il y a, d’abord, l’étude du théâtre radiophonique comme discours qui utilise un langage spécifique –le langage radiophonique– et suppose un “théâtre écrit pour la radio”, et ce, à partir des œuvres de Rudolf Arnheim, Armand Balsebre et Etienne Fuzellier. Puis, il y a une mise en contexte de la pièce en faisant référence à la situation particulièrement mouvementée de l’Amérique latine, pendant les années 70, en mettant en rapport le sujet de la “décolonisation” avec celui de la libération. Avant d’aborder le sujet du théâtre radiophonique –ce qui inclut ses origines en Argentine, les premières pièces et les caractéristiques du format– et en prenant comme référence l’auteur Jésus Martin-Barbero, nous revoyons brièvement l’histoire du mélodrame, ce spectacle de forte valeur émotionnelle présent en Amérique latine, notamment, dans le théâtre radiophonique et le feuilleton télévisé. Suivant une revue des caractéristiques concernant le style d’écriture de Cortazar, nous analysons la pièce théâtrale d’un point de vue qui tient compte, principalement, des catégories d’espace et de temps, particulièrement importantes dans l’étude d’une œuvre radiophonique. Finalement, cette étude prétend démontrer que le but de Julio Cortazar, en écrivant Adieu, Robinson, n’était pas de proposer un passe-temps radiophonique, mais plutôt d’atteindre un public plus vaste via un puissant moyen de communication en lui offrant une fable anticolonialiste. Mots-clés : Cortazar, Robinson Crusoé, décolonisation, sémiologie du théâtre radiophonique. / ABSTRACT This research work is based on the study of the play Adiós, Robinson (Goodbye, Robinson), a radio script written by Julio Cortázar in 1977, published in 1984, reedited in 1995 -after the death of the author-, and broadcast in every continent in the late 1970s. The analysis of this piece was carried out taking into consideration two different but complementary perspectives: one more formal or technical and the other ideological. Thus, on the one hand, radio drama is examined as a type of discourse that uses a specific language -radiophonic language-, and constitutes “a theatrical presentation written for radio", based on the works of Rudolf Arnheim, Armand Balsebre and Etienne Fuzellier. On the other hand, the text contextualized by referring to the troubled situation in Latin America in the 1970s, and relating the topic of "decolonization" to that of liberation. Before addressing the subject of radio drama -including its origins in Argentina, the first pieces for radio, and the characteristics of its format- and taking the author Jesús Martín-Barbero as a source of reference, a brief history of melodrama is presented. This genre, characterized by strong emotional content, is very much present in Latin America, particularly in radio drama and soap operas. After describing Cortázar’s writing style, the script is analyzed from a viewpoint that focuses mainly on the categories of space and time, which are especially of interest when studying a piece of radio drama. Finally, this study pretends to demonstrate that Julio Cortázar did not write Adiós, Robinson as a mere piece of radio entertainment. On the contrary, the author, aware of the power exercised by this type of media, uses it to reach a wider audience and present it with an anti-colonial fable. Keywords: Cortazar, Robinson Crusoe, decolonization, semiology of radio drama.

Les traductions, abrégés, adaptations ou continuations constituent des opérations décisives lors de la diffusion et de la réception des oeuvres littéraires dans l’espace et dans le temps. L’histoire de la réception sur la longue durée de Robinson Crusoé en France et en Chine illustre ce phénomène de manière exemplaire. Les premières traductions françaises et chinoises ont toutes modifié l’original de Defoe pour répondre aux exigences et aux besoins de leur environnement et de leurs publics spécifiques, en même temps qu’elles ont contribué à modifier les sensibilités et les comportements des lecteurs. Sa diffusion en Europe occidentale puis dans le monde entier a transformé le roman de Defoe et ses avatars en un genre à contenu pédagogique et destiné à la jeunesse. La conception exposée par Rousseau dans l’Émile est à l’origine de ce tournant européen qui n’a cessé de poser un problème essentiel – celui du rapport entre le romanesque et l’instructif – à tous ceux qui, comme Campe, Wyss ou Jules Verne, ont voulu imiter ou adapter l’histoire de Robinson dans une perspective éducative. A force de réécritures explicitement revendiquées par leurs auteurs, l’histoire de Robinson a finalement obtenu le statut de mythe littéraire au XXe siècle. Au-delà de leurs différences, des écrivains contemporains comme le français Michel Tournier ou la sino-américaine Maxine Hong Kingston voient avant tout dans Robinson un symbole de la modernité. Celle-ci, comme les expériences propres à ces écrivains, débouchent sur des réécritures plus subtiles de Robinson Crusoé tout en manifestant la puissance et le dynamisme du modèle initial dont les transformations constituent le signe le plus visible. / The translations, summaries, adaptations or continuations constitute the decisive operations during the distribution and the reception of the literary works in the space and in the time. The history of the long-lasting reception of Robinson Crusoé in France and in China illustrates this phenomenon in a exemplary way. Its first French and Chinese translations all modified the original of Defoe in order to meet the requirements and needs of their environment and of their specific public, at the same time as they both contributed to modify the sensibilities and the behavior of the readers. Its distribution in Western Europe then all over the world transformed the novel of Defoe and its variants into a genre with educational contents and intended for the youth. The conception proposed by Rousseau in his Émile is at the origin of this change occurred first in Europe which raises always the same essential question - that of the relationship between the fiction and the instruction - to all those who, as Campe, Wyss or Jules Verne, wanted to imitate or to adapt the story of Robinson for an educational purpose. By means of rewritings explicitly claimed by their authors, the story of Robinson finally obtained the status of literary myth in the 20th century. Beyond their differences, contemporary writers like French Michel Tournier or Chinese American Maxine Hong Kingston see above all in Robinson a symbol of the modernity. Reflections on the modernity, with the particular experiences belonging to these writers, result in more subtle rewritings of Robinson Crusoe, and show the power and the dynamism of the initial model the transformations of which constitute the most visible sign.

<p>Much of the critical discourse on J.M. Coetzee’s <em>Foe</em> does not fully investigate its relationship with Daniel Defoe’s texts, despite <em>Foe</em>’s intimate relation with them. This thesis offers a postcolonial reading of Coetzee’s Susan Barton, Cruso and Friday against Daniel Defoe’s original characters Roxana, Robinson Crusoe and Friday. Chapter one discusses Roxana-as-feminist, female colonizer, representative of her sex and Amazon and compares her to Barton. It reveals the tendency of critical discourse to attempt to ‘know’ Barton as they ‘know’ Roxana, by categorizing her, and reveals how Coetzee’s character frustrates attempts to define her. The second chapter addresses eighteenth-century knowledge of race and how it differs from present day, which offers an alternate reading of <em>Robinson Crusoe</em> and complicates its use as a colonial handbook. I also discuss masculinity in Defoe’s <em>Robinson Crusoe</em> as an individual characteristic Coetzee alters into something that can be appropriated. His characters are not masculine but can wield phallic symbols such as the pen and the knife to reveal power as systemic rather than individualistic. The final chapter offers an in depth postcolonial reading of Friday and interrogates critical discourse’s tendency to read him as representative of ‘the colonized,’ or as a colonial trope.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

Esta tese apresenta um estudo sobre a criação literária de Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoé, escrita em 1719. Seu estatuto de obra clássica com inúmeras adaptações inserea numa cadeia discursiva de porte extraordinário, na qual o personagem revela-se um mito. O presente estudo, alicerçado no conceito de compreensão criadora de Mikhail Bakhtin, buscou uma ampliação de sentidos na análise do objeto empírico, com os seguintes objetivos: questionar um possível uso de obras clássicas como fetiches, o esvaziamento de seus sentidos e averiguar a hipótese de Robinson Crusoé ser um protótipo do homem como ser de linguagem, metalinguístico. O levantamento de tal hipótese foi possível pela concepção da dialogia da linguagem, entendida no conceito do Círculo de Bakhtin. A metodologia utilizada constou de sucessivas leituras da obra em questão, seleção de atos de linguagem expressos pelo personagem e sua categorização. A partir daí foram buscadas as representações do Outro nos enunciados de Robinson durante o período de seu total isolamento na ilha em que naufragou; a procura foi norteada pelo conceito da constituição dialógica da palavra, dado que no contexto de enunciação não havia presença real de interlocutores. Como forma de enfatizar o caráter dialógico da linguagem, realizou-se, também, uma seleção de marcas do Outro no relato autobiográfico do personagem (a obra em seu todo), algumas delas explicitamente visualizadas. As reflexões de diferentes autores acham-se presentes neste estudo: Roland Barthes, Michel de Certeau, Jeanne Marie Gagnebin, Ivonne Bordelois, Zygmunt Bauman, Dominique Maingueneau, Fernando Savater, David Olson, George Steiner. Os resultados do trabalho atestam a propriedade da hipótese formulada e demonstram a força da linguagem na vida humana, confirmando a necessidade de valorização da palavra em meio à crise cultural presente na modernidade líquida. / The following thesis presents a study on Daniel Defoes literary creation Robinson Crusoe, written in 1719. Its status as a literary classic that has been the subject of endless adaptations gives Robinson Crusoe an extraordinary position in the discursive chain, revealing the character as a myth. The present study, based on Mikhail Bakhtins concept of creative understanding, sought to amplify the meanings in the analysis of its empirical object, with the following aims: to question the possible use of classic works as fetishes, to empty its meanings and to investigate the hypothesis of Robinson Crusoe being a prototype of man as a being of language, a metalinguistic being. This hypothesis was enabled by the concept of the dialogism of language, understood within the concept of Bakhtins Circle. The methodology employed consisted of successive readings of the work, the selection of acts of language expressed by the character, and their classification into categories. From this basis, the representations of the Other in Robinsons enunciations during his period of total isolation on the island where he was shipwrecked were sought; the search was guided by the concept of the dialogic constitution of speech, since within the context of the enunciation there were no actual conversational partners present. To stress the dialogic character of language, a selection was also made of the signs of the Other in the characters autobiographical account (the work as a whole), some of which were explicitly visualized. The reflections of different authors are present in this study: Roland Barthes, Michel de Certeau, Jeanne Marie Gagnebin, Ivonne Bordelois, Zygmunt Bauman, Dominique Maingueneau, Fernando Savater, David Olson, and George Steiner. The results of this study confirm the correctness of the hypothesis proposed and demonstrate the strength of language in human life, supporting the need to value speech in the midst of the cultural crisis of liquid modernity.