М. П. Алексеев: Статьи в книге «Даниель Дефо и его роман “Робинзон Крузо “ стр.5-8.»

1.  М. П. Алексеев: Статьи в книге «Даниель Дефо и его роман “Робинзон Крузо “ стр.5-8.»

Москва « Детская литература» 1988. стр. 3-248.

Alexander Selkirk a Scottish scat of sailor who lived in Khan Fernandez island 4 years and 4 month (1705-1709)

Defoe’s hero is a typical Englishman. He has his own dignities and (short-comings) = lack= (of) shortages of his characters these are analyzed by Defoe’s as the character of the main hero. The hero wants his country to be developed and to be the owner of new colonies. That is why Robinson Crusoe sells the boy in Brazil though he could escape captivity together with the boy he does it without any hesitation indifferently. He turns Friday into his servant and for slave though he makes pacific speeches against Spanish colonizers and gustier. These are common typical features almost every contemporary of the writer.

Selkirk and his like stayed in union habited islands not too long. But Robinson Crusoe lived in his island twenty eight years, two months and nineteen days. The author knew this is rather long solitude loneliness though.

The man had a strong will and energy as even comparatively less period, left to destiny itself last their human look cast of mind and then even last their speech. But lengthening the term period. Defoe go an opportunity to awake the readers’ sympathy to his hero.

He also got a necessary opportunity for detailed description about moral and physical development of single man, about possible means of development of his abilities and spiritual force. This story turned into a story about inner ripening of a man, full of delicate fine physiological observations. Specialists think that Daniel Defoe felt strong influence of the philosophy of the end of the XVIII and the beginning of the XIX centuries. Especially Defoe’s outlook had much in common with the ideas of one of the founders of English Enlightment John Lock the author of “An Experience (about) on Human Mind”.[6]

Daniel Defoe borrowed an idea from John Lock about it a man in solitude could appropriate the fight to own the land and the products to all members of the society.

The influence of John Lock’s ideas concerning education can be seen in Robinson’s teaching Friday the truths of Christian religion.

Defoe’s book is penetrated with the ideas of Enlightenment these are: glorification of reasons, optimism, and labor. “Robinson Crusoe” is a book of complex structure and of big ideological content. These things made the book popular in the Epoch of Enlightenment. These ideas put the book on the top of the belles letters of those days, these ideas made it the prototype of future realistic novel in European literature.

“Robinson Crusoe” made great impression on prominent writers and poets one of whom was Goethe, not only the men of letters of Europe but in other countries too. Great books of world literature are kept in the minds in the memories of many generations of readers not only for their significance but also what effects they had for the development of the future literature. This novel belongs to the ranks of works which are read by millions of people all the world over. The book staid alive thanks to the fact that it thought us to live and build life. Future readers should also know this educative essence of the book and they should never forget the significance of this nice creation, we must not forget the lessons of the hero.

“Robinson Crusoe’s way to Uzbekistan via Russia

A well known scholar Alekseev M.P. tells us that the first Russian translator of Defoe’s novel was Trusov. His translation ( made, by the way, from French) was published in two parts in 1762-1764 and has in Russian the following little. Жизнь и приключения. Робинзон Крузо природного англичанина Д. Фое. No doubt that in XVIII century “Robinson Crusoe” was read much both in Russian translation and besides in different western European abridged editions and alterations. (переделки) This period ma be considered the time when youth lived to read the book. In N. I. Novelov’s journal magazine “Детская чтение для сердца и разума”(1785-1789) (“children’s reading for heart and reason”) we find an extraction from “Robinson Crusoe an ditched alteration 1779 made I. G. Khaire. And in “Reminiscences” of S. H. Glinka there is a story about his tutor, Frenchman Lablane, who had been a passionate admirer of “Robinson” and who implanted love in for this famous book not only but all his ages when twenty years later the same Glinka began to publish his magazine “New children’s readers” (1819-1824) he opened the magazine with “Robinson Crusoe” in his own shortening curtailment and alteration for young readers. And the shortenings curtailments from the same work extracts in the magazines for grown ups.

There appeared various alterations of the book. Different books appeared during not only XVIII but XIX century as well. Among shade who made such alterations shortenings curtailments we may name us outstanding Russian writers L. N. Tolstoy. Among many publish and bad translations we may mansion. P. A. Korsakov and P. Konchalovsky’s translation.

M. A. Shishmoreva and Z. N. Shuravshaya as experienced translators carried out new interpretations of the novel in XIX-XX centuries. York an ancient town of northern England gave the name to one of the widest fastest dukedom the Kingdom Yorkshire was also one of the most important trade ports centuries. Crusoe is near to a Germanic Lord Kraus “Корец”and a verb “крейцер”- крестить.

Robinson Crusoe and his character

An unnamed editor explains his reasons for offering us the narrative we are about to read. He does not mention the name or story of Robinson Crusoe explicitly but, rather, describes the narrative as a “private man’s adventures in the world” and focuses on its realism when he calls it a “just history of fact.” He claims it is modest and serious, and that it has an instructive value, teaching us to honor “the wisdom of Providence.” Thus, the editor asserts he is doing a great service to the world in publishing Crusoe’s tale.

A man named Robinson Crusoe records his own life story, beginning with his birth in 1632 in the English city of York. Crusoe’s father was a German, originally named Kreutznaer. Crusoe is the youngest of three brothers, the eldest being a soldier and the second one having vanished mysteriously. As the youngest son in the family, Crusoe is expected to inherit little, and, as a result, his father encourages him to take up the law. But Crusoe’s inclination is to go to sea. His family strongly opposes this idea, and his father gives him a stern lecture on the value of accepting a middle station in life. Crusoe resolves to follow his father’s advice. But when one of his friends embarks for London, Crusoe succumbs to temptation and boards the ship on September 1, 1651. A storm develops. Near Yarmouth the weather is so bad that Crusoe fears for his life and prays to God for deliverance. The ship nearly founders, but all are saved. Crusoe sees this ordeal as a sign of fate that he should give up sea travel, and his friend’s father warns him against setting foot on a ship again, echoing his own father’s warning.

ROBINSON CRUSOE IS AN ENGLISHMAN from the town of York in the seventeenth century, the youngest son of a merchant of German origin. Encouraged by his father to study law, Crusoe expresses his wish to go to sea instead. His family is against Crusoe going out to sea, and his father explains that it is better to seek a modest, secure life for oneself. Initially, Robinson is committed to obeying his father, but he eventually succumbs to temptation and embarks on a ship bound for London with a friend. When a storm causes the near deaths of Crusoe and his friend, the friend is dissuaded from sea travel, but Crusoe still goes on to set himself up as merchant on a ship leaving London. This trip is financially successful, and Crusoe plans another, leaving his early profits in the care of a friendly widow. The second voyage does not prove as fortunate: the ship is seized by Moorish pirates, and Crusoe is enslaved to a potentate in the North African town of Sallee. While on a fishing expedition, he and a slave boy break free and sail down the African coast. A kindly Portuguese captain picks them up, buys the slave boy from Crusoe, and takes Crusoe to Brazil. In Brazil, Crusoe establishes himself as a plantation owner and soon becomes successful. Eager for slave labor and its economic advantages, he embarks on a slave-gathering expedition to West Africa but ends up shipwrecked off of the coast of Trinidad.

Crusoe soon learns he is the sole survivor of the expedition and seeks shelter and food for himself. He returns to the wreck’s remains twelve times to salvage guns, powder, food, and other items. Onshore, he finds goats he can graze for meat and builds himself a shelter. He erects a cross that he inscribes with the date of his arrival, September 1, 1659, and makes a notch every day in order never to lose track of time. He also keeps a journal of his household activities, noting his attempts to make candles, his lucky discovery of sprouting grain, and his construction of a cellar, among other events. In June 1660, he falls ill and hallucinates that an angel visits, warning him to repent. Drinking tobacco-steeped rum, Crusoe experiences a religious illumination and realizes that God has delivered him from his earlier sins. After recovering, Crusoe makes a survey of the area and discovers he is on an island. He finds a pleasant valley abounding in grapes, where he builds a shady retreat. Crusoe begins to feel more optimistic about being on the island, describing himself as its “king.” He trains a pet parrot, takes a goat as a pet, and develops skills in basket weaving, bread making, and pottery. He cuts down an enormous cedar tree and builds a huge canoe from its trunk, but he discovers that he cannot move it to the sea. After building a smaller boat, he rows around the island but nearly perishes when swept away by a powerful current. Reaching shore, he hears his parrot calling his name and is thankful for being saved once again. He spends several years in peace.

One day Crusoe is shocked to discover a man’s footprint on the beach. He first assumes the footprint is the devil’s, then decides it must belong to one of the cannibals said to live in the region. Terrified, he arms himself and remains on the lookout for cannibals. He also builds an underground cellar in which to herd his goats at night and devises a way to cook underground. One evening he hears gunshots, and the next day he is able to see a ship wrecked on his coast. It is empty when he arrives on the scene to investigate. Crusoe once again thanks Providence for having been saved. Soon afterward, Crusoe discovers that the shore has been strewn with human carnage, apparently the remains of a cannibal feast. He is alarmed and continues to be vigilant. Later Crusoe catches sight of thirty cannibals heading for shore with their victims. One of the victims is killed. Another one, waiting to be slaughtered, suddenly breaks free and runs toward Crusoe’s dwelling. Crusoe protects him, killing one of the pursuers and injuring the other, whom the victim finally kills. Well-armed, Crusoe defeats most of the cannibals onshore. The victim vows total submission to Crusoe in gratitude for his liberation. Crusoe names him Friday, to commemorate the day on which his life was saved, and takes him as his servant.

I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull. He got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off his trade lived afterward at York, from whence he had married my mother, whose relations were named Robinson, a good family in that country, and from whom I was called Robinson Kreutznear; but by the usual corruption of words in England we are now called, nay, we call ourselves, and write our name, Crusoe, and so my companions always called me. [7]

I had two elder brothers, one of which was lieutenant-colonel to an English regiment of foot in Flanders, formerly commanded by the famous Colonel Lockhart, and was killed at the battle near Dunkirk against the Spaniards; what became of my second brother I never knew, any more than my father and mother did know what was become of me.

Being the third son of the family, and not bred to any trade, my head began to be filled very early with rambling thoughts. My father, who was very ancient, had given me a competent share of learning, as far as house-education and a country free school generally goes, and designed me for the law, but I would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea; and my inclination to this led me so strongly against the will, nay, the commands, of my father, and against all the entreaties and persuasions of my mother and other friends, that there seemed to be something fatal in that profession of nature tending directly to the life of misery which was to befall me.

My father, a wise and grave man, gave me serious and excellent counsel against what he foresaw was my design. He called me one morning into his chamber, where he was confined by the gout, and expostulated very warmly with me upon this subject. He asked me what reasons more than a mere wandering inclination I had for leaving my father's house and my native country, where I might be well introduced, and had a prospect of raising my fortunes by application and industry, with a life of ease and pleasure. He told me it was for men of desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring, superior fortunes on the other, who went abroad upon adventures, to rise by enterprise, and make themselves famous in undertakings of a nature out of the common road; that these things were all either too far above me, or too far below me; that mine was the middle state, or what might be called the upper station of low life, which he had found by long experience was the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness, not exposed to the miseries and hardships, the labor and sufferings, of the mechanic part of mankind, and not embarrassed with the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy of the upper part of mankind. He told me I might judge of the happiness of this state by one thing, viz., that this was the state of life which all other people envied; that kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequences of being born to great things, and wished they had been placed in the middle of the two extremes, between the mean and the great; that the wise man gave his testimony to this as the just standard of true felicity, when he prayed to have neither poverty nor riches.

He bid me observe it, and I should always find that the calamities of life were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind; but that the middle station had the fewest disasters and was not exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind. Nay, they were not subjected to so many distempers and uneasiness either of body or mind as those were who, by vicious living, luxury, and extravagancies on one hand, or by hard labor, want of necessaries, and mean or insufficient diet on the other hand, bring distempers upon themselves by the natural consequences of their way of living; that the middle station of life was calculated for all kind of virtues and all kind of enjoyments; that peace and plenty were the handmaids of a middle fortune; that temperance, moderation, quietness, health, society, all agreeable diversions, and all desirable pleasures, were the blessings attending the middle station of life; that this way men went silently and smoothly through the world, and comfortably out of it, not embarrassed with the labors of the hands or of the head, not sold to the life of slavery for daily bread, or harassed with perplexed circumstances, which rob the soul of peace, and the body of rest; not enraged with the passion of envy, or secret burning lust of ambition for great things; but in easy circumstances sliding gently through the world, and sensibly tasting the sweets of living, without the bitter, feeling that they are happy, and learning by every day's experience to know it more sensibly.

After this, he pressed me earnestly, and in the most affectionate manner, not to play the young man, not to precipitate myself into miseries which Nature and the station of life I was born in seemed to have provided against; that I was under no necessity of seeking my bread; that he would do well for me, and endeavor to enter me fairly into the station of life which he had been just recommending to me; and that if I was not very easy and happy in the world it must be my mere fate or fault that must hinder it, and that he should have nothing to answer for, having thus discharged his duty in warning me against measures which he knew would be to my hurt; in a word, that as he would do very kind things for me if I would stay and settle at home as he directed, so he would not have so much hand in my misfortunes, as to give me any encouragement to go away. And to close all, he told me I had my elder brother for an example, to whom he had used the same earnest persuasions to keep him from going into the Low Country wars, but could not prevail, his young desires prompting him to run into the army, where he was killed; and though he said he would not cease to pray for me, yet he would venture to say to me, that if I did take this foolish step, God would not bless me, and I would have leisure hereafter to reflect upon having neglected his counsel when there might be none to assist in my recovery.

I observed in this last part of his discourse, which was truly prophetic, though I suppose my father did not know it to be so himself - I say, I observed the tears run down his face very plentifully, and especially when he spoke of my brother who was killed; and that when he spoke of my having leisure to repent, and none to assist me, he was so moved that he broke off the discourse, and told me his heart was so full he could say no more to me. [8]

I was sincerely affected with this discourse, as indeed who could be otherwise? And I resolved not to think of going abroad any more, but to settle at home according to my father's desire. But alas! a few days wore it all off; and, in short, to prevent any of my father's farther importunities, in a few weeks after I resolved to run quite away from him. However, I did not act so hastily neither as my first heat of resolution prompted, but I took my mother, at a time when I thought her a little pleasanter than ordinary, and told her that my thoughts were so entirely bent upon seeing the world that I should never settle to anything with resolution enough to go through with it, and my father had better give me his consent than force me to go without it; that I was now eighteen years old, which was too late to go apprentice to a trade, or clerk to an attorney; that I was sure if I did, I should never serve out my time, and I should certainly run away from my master before my time was out, and go to sea; and if she would speak to my father to let me go but one voyage abroad, if I came home again and did not like it, I would go no more, and I would promise by a double diligence to recover that time I had lost.

This put my mother into a great passion. She told me she knew it would be to no purpose to speak to my father upon any such subject; that he knew too well what was my interest to give his consent to anything so much for my hurt, and that she wondered how I could think of any such thing after such a discourse as I had had with my father, and such kind and tender expressions as she knew my father had used to me; and that, in short, if I would ruin myself there was no help for me; but I might depend I should never have their consent to it; that for her part, she should not have so much hand in my destruction, and I should never have it to say, that my mother was willing when my father was not.

Finding Friday cheerful and intelligent, Crusoe teaches him some English words and some elementary Christian concepts. Friday, in turn, explains that the cannibals are divided into distinct nations and that they only eat their enemies. Friday also informs Crusoe that the cannibals saved the men from the shipwreck Crusoe witnessed earlier, and that those men, Spaniards, are living nearby. Friday expresses a longing to return to his people, and Crusoe is upset at the prospect of losing Friday. Crusoe then entertains the idea of making contact with the Spaniards, and Friday admits that he would rather die than lose Crusoe. The two build a boat to visit the cannibals’ land together. Before they have a chance to leave, they are surprised by the arrival of twenty-one cannibals in canoes. The cannibals are holding three victims, one of whom is in European dress. Friday and Crusoe kill most of the cannibals and release the European, a Spaniard. Friday is overjoyed to discover that another of the rescued victims is his father. The four men return to Crusoe’s dwelling for food and rest. Crusoe prepares to welcome them into his community permanently. He sends Friday’s father and the Spaniard out in a canoe to explore the nearby land.

Eight days later, the sight of an approaching English ship alarms Friday. Crusoe is suspicious. Friday and Crusoe watch as eleven men take three captives onshore in a boat. Nine of the men explore the land, leaving two to guard the captives. Friday and Crusoe overpower these men and release the captives, one of whom is the captain of the ship, which has been taken in a mutiny. Shouting to the remaining mutineers from different points, Friday and Crusoe confuse and tire the men by making them run from place to place. Eventually they confront the mutineers, telling them that all may escape with their lives except the ringleader. The men surrender. Crusoe and the captain pretend that the island is an imperial territory and that the governor has spared their lives in order to send them all to England to face justice. Keeping five men as hostages, Crusoe sends the other men out to seize the ship. When the ship is brought in, Crusoe nearly faints.

On December 19, 1686, Crusoe boards the ship to return to England.[9] There, he finds his family is deceased except for two sisters. His widow friend has kept Crusoe’s money safe, and after traveling to Lisbon, Crusoe learns from the Portuguese captain that his plantations in Brazil have been highly profitable. He arranges to sell his Brazilian lands. Wary of sea travel, Crusoe attempts to return to England by land but is threatened by bad weather and wild animals in northern Spain. Finally arriving back in England, Crusoe receives word that the sale of his plantations has been completed and that he has made a considerable fortune. After donating a portion to the widow and his sisters, Crusoe is restless and considers returning to Brazil, but he is dissuaded by the thought that he would have to become Catholic. He marries, and his wife dies. Crusoe finally departs for the East Indies as a trader in 1694. He revisits his island, finding that the Spaniards are governing it well and that it has become a prosperous colony. Robinson Crusoe was born in York whose father was from Bremen, but before then lived in Hull a town an Eastern court of England he made his first travel in 1651 on the first of September on a ship which went left London. Robinson Crusoe was born on a respectable family. His father came from Berwyn and first he lived in Hull, later when he came into a fortune, he left his business there and moved to York. His father married Robinson’s mother who belonged to an old stock and on his mother’s side he bore the mane of Robinson. And the boy, whose interesting life adventures in this novel are described, was given the name of Robinson. The surname of his father was Cruiser and Englishmen according to their tradition to fortune the language foreign words turned Cruiser into Crusoe. And later they began to name and to put their signatures as Crusoe. He had two brothers, one of them served in Flandreau in an English infantry regiment and he was killed in the battle with Spanish. And Robinson did not know what had happened to his brother Robinson’s parents wanted him to become a lawyer, but the boy dreamed of becoming a traveler.

Robinson Crusoe, as a young and impulsive wanderer, defied his parents and went to sea. He was involved in a series of violent storms at sea and was warned by the captain that he should not be a seafaring man. Ashamed to go home, Crusoe boarded another ship and returned from a successful trip to Africa. Taking off again, Crusoe met with bad luck and was taken prisoner in Sallie. His captors sent Crusoe out to fish, and he used this to his advantage and escaped, along with a slave.

He was rescued by a Portuguese ship and started a new adventure. He landed in Brazil, and, after some time, he became the owner of a sugar plantation. Hoping to increase his wealth by buying slaves, he aligned himself with other planters and undertook a trip to Africa in order to bring back a shipload of slaves. After surviving a storm, Crusoe and the others were shipwrecked. He was thrown upon shore only to discover that he was the sole survivor of the wreck.

Crusoe made immediate plans for food, and then shelter, to protect him from wild animals. He brought as many things as possible from the wrecked ship, things that would be useful later to him. In addition, he began to develop talents that he had never used in order to provide himself with necessities. Cut off from the company of men, he began to communicate with God, thus beginning the first part of his religious conversion. To keep his sanity and to entertain himself, he began a journal. In the journal, he recorded every task that he performed each day since he had been marooned.

As time passed, Crusoe became a skilled craftsman, able to construct many useful things, and thus furnished himself with diverse comforts. He also learned about farming, as a result of some seeds which he brought with him. An illness prompted some prophetic dreams, and Crusoe began to reappraise his duty to God. Crusoe explored his island and discovered another part of the island much richer and more fertile, and he built a summer home there.

One of the first tasks he undertook was to build himself a canoe in case an escape became possible, but the canoe was too heavy to get to the water. He then constructed a small boat and journeyed around the island. Crusoe reflected on his earlier, wicked life, disobeying his parents, and wondered if it might be related to his isolation on this island.

After spending about fifteen years on the island, Crusoe found a man's naked footprint, and he was sorely beset by apprehensions, which kept him awake many nights. He considered many possibilities to account for the footprint and he began to take extra precautions against a possible intruder. Sometime later, Crusoe was horrified to find human bones scattered about the shore, evidently the remains of a savage feast. He was plagued again with new fears. He explored the nature of cannibalism and debated his right to interfere with the customs of another race.

Crusoe was cautious for several years, but encountered nothing more to alarm him. He found a cave, which he used as a storage room, and in December of the same year, he spied cannibals sitting around a campfire. He did not see them again for quite some time.

Later, Crusoe saw a ship in distress, but everyone was already drowned on the ship and Crusoe remained companionless. However, he was able to take many provisions from this newly wrecked ship. Sometime later, cannibals landed on the island and a victim escaped. Crusoe saved his life, named him Friday, and taught him English. Friday soon became Crusoe's humble and devoted slave.

Crusoe and Friday made plans to leave the island and, accordingly, they built another boat. Crusoe also undertook Friday's religious education, converting the savage into a Protestant. Their voyage was postponed due to the return of the savages. This time it was necessary to attack the cannibals in order to save two prisoners since one was a white man. The white man was a Spaniard and the other was Friday's father. Later the four of them planned a voyage to the mainland to rescue sixteen compatriots of the Spaniard. First, however, they built up their food supply to assure enough food for the extra people. Crusoe and Friday agreed to wait on the island while the Spaniard and Friday's father brought back the other men.[10]

A week later, they spied a ship but they quickly learned that there had been a mutiny on board. By devious means, Crusoe and Friday rescued the captain and two other men, and after much scheming, regained control of the ship. The grateful captain gave Crusoe many gifts and took him and Friday back to England. Some of the rebel crewmen were left marooned on the island.

Crusoe returned to England and found that in his absence he had become a wealthy man. After going to Lisbon to handle some of his affairs, Crusoe began an overland journey back to England. Crusoe and his company encountered many hardships in crossing the mountains, but they finally arrived safely in England. Crusoe sold his plantation in Brazil for a good price, married, and had three children. Finally, however, he was persuaded to go on yet another voyage, and he visited his old island, where there were promises of new adventures to be found in a later account.

Some words about the translation of the novel

Many sides of his worldview can be found in his Diary. The except of if we shall try to analyze. And this put me in mind that I wanted many things, not with standing all that I had amassed together, and of this ink was one, as also spade pickaxe, and shovel, to dies or remove the earth, needless, pins and thread, as for liner I soon learned to want “These lines are translated into Russian by M. A. Shishmoreva thus.

Conclusion

Robinson Crusoe, the narrator of the story, tells us that he was born in 1632 in the city of York, England. His father, a German immigrant, married a woman whose name was Robinson, and his real name was Robinson Kreutznaer, but due to the natural corruption of languages, the family now writes their name "Crusoe." He was the third son; his oldest brother was killed in a war, and the next son simply disappeared.

When Robinson Crusoe first had an urge to go to sea, his father lectured him upon the importance of staying home and being content with his "middle station" in life. His father maintained that the "middle station had the fewest disasters and was not exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind." After his father expressly forbade him to go to sea, and, furthermore, promised to do good things for him if he stayed home, for another whole year, Robinson Crusoe stayed at home, but he constantly thought of adventures upon the high sea. He tried to enlist the aid of his mother, pointing out that he was now eighteen years old and if he did not like the sea, he could work diligently and make up for the time he might lose while at sea. She refused to help him, even though she did report his strong feelings to her husband.

When Robinson was nineteen, on the first of September, in 1651, he joined a friend on a ship bound for London, without consulting either his father or mother. Almost immediately, "the wind began to blow, and the sea to rise in a most frightful manner." Robinson Crusoe, who had never been to sea before, saw this as a sign that he was justly "overtaken by the judgment of Heaven" for his wicked leaving of his father's house without letting anyone know. He was so frightened that he made the promise: "If it would please God here to spare my life in this one voyage, if ever I got once my foot upon dry land again, I would go directly home to my father, and never set it into a ship again while I lived." The wind soon abated, and the next morning the sea was so calm and so beautiful that he entirely forgot the vows and promises that he had made in his distress, and joined the other sailors in a drinking bout.

As they neared a place called Yarmouth Roads, the winds ceased to blow and thus they were stilled for eight days, and when the winds did begin to blow, the ship immediately encountered a storm much more violent than the earlier one. Even the most experienced sailors were down on their knees praying. The storm continued with such fury that the seamen acknowledged that they had never known a worse one.

When the boat sprung a leak, Robinson was ordered below to help pump the water. It soon became apparent that they would not be able to save the ship and the captain fired several volleys of distress signals. A lighter ship in the vicinity made it up to their ship and was able to take the crew away from the sinking ship, which foundered soon after they left.

The crew finally got to shore, where Robinson Crusoe met his friend's father, who owned the ship. When the captain heard Robinson Crusoe's story, he felt strongly that it was the "hand of Providence" instructing Robinson Crusoe never to go to sea any more. He told the young man: "You ought to take this for a plain and visible token that you are not to be a seafaring man." He even wondered if he had done something wrong that such a person as Robinson Crusoe should "come onto his ship," and he warned Crusoe again that "you will meet with nothing but disasters and disappointments" if he did not go back to his father's house.

The impetus for the idea for Robinson Crusoe came to Defoe from his reading of the account of a man named Alexander Selkirk who, in a fit of anger, had himself put ashore on a deserted island. Earlier, Selkirk had gotten into a fight with a fellow crewman and had himself and his effects put ashore on an island outside of Chili. When he realized the effect of his actions, he pleaded with his shipmates to come back for him, but it was too late. He was marooned on the island for four and a half years. When he was later rescued, the report states that he could hardly speak any more, but he did apparently quickly regain his speech.

The account of Alexander Selkirk was published widely throughout England; he was the subject of an article by Richard Steele in the Englishman, and an account of his adventures appeared in many other papers. Consequently, Defoe was quite familiar with Selkirk's adventures, and some biographers maintain that Defoe interviewed Selkirk personally, but this is debatable.

Many of Selkirk's activities on his island are paralleled by Robinson Crusoe on his island; for example, Selkirk fed on turnips, fish, and goat's meat; he became overrun with cats, and he had to use his ingenuity to survive, all reflected in Defoe's novel. In addition, Alexander Selkirk's original name had been Alexander Sclera, just as Robinson Crusoe's real name had been Robinson Kreutznaer.

A clue to one of the basic ideas of the novel is given in the first chapter, when Crusoe's father admonished his son to stay "in the middle station" of life--this station being the one which "had the fewest disasters, and was not exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind." Crusoe's pride would not allow him to remain in this "middle station." So Crusoe, like the protagonists in many Greek myths and dramas, suffers from the sin of hubris and is accordingly punished. Often during his confinement on the island, Crusoe is reminded of his father's advice and rues his own impulsiveness. Furthermore, the father's pronouncement that his "boy might be happy if he would stay at home, but if he goes abroad, he will be the most miserable wretch that was ever born" becomes a prophetic statement which foreshadows Crusoe's later predicament.

The father's prediction comes true sooner than even Crusoe could expect. His first boat founders and Crusoe makes solemn vows in a time of trouble, but as soon as the trouble is over, he forgets his vows. Thus, we have his first reneging on his word to God. Throughout the rest of the novel, he will constantly contemplate his relationship with God and how much God is punishing him for his "wicked ways."

Literature is the second part of a language study. It was always included in studying any foreign languages. Teaching literature is very difficult process, not simultaneous in its structure and it requires the set of literary sources, which would be mostly appropriate to better understanding of the language studied. That is why modern teachers should not only teach grammar and oral practice materials, but also pay attention to learning the best examples of the literary works created by the best representatives of the foreign language bearers, beginning from the classical authors, and continuing to the modern writers and poets.

When speaking about the English language and literature we also take into consideration all the trends featuring England for the whole period of written language existence, beginning from “Beowulf” and not finishing by someone. That is we must take into consideration the historic aspect when studying English.

 Without knowing the history of the language, without perfect knowledge all the major milestones in development of the English literature, the teacher will not be able to prove his students the majesty and beauty of the language studied. Frankly speaking, if we ask foreign learners of English, whom do they know amongst the most significant English poets and writers, the most obvious answer will be: Shakespeare, Wilde, and Defoe. Of course, as literary Greek is the language of Homer, Spanish is the language of Cervantes; German is that of Goethe, Russian is that of Pushkin, the English language is the language of William Shakespeare. So we are sure that even the worst graded student of English will undoubtedly name Shakespeare as the best language bearer of English, together with naming some of the most popular of his works, like “Romeo and Juliet”, “Hamlet”, and “Midsummer Night’s dream”. But, nevertheless, the English literature is not Shakespeare only, (though the English literature without Shakespeare is not the English literature as well), the English language is also the language of Chaucer, Byron, Swift, Stevenson, and many others. That is why we think of the general characteristics and analysis of the way the English literature has passed in its development, and of educational value of the latter as the major task of this chapter.

Studying English literature and acquaintance with it begins with the appearance of the first modern languages. Without getting acquaintance the students with this period of development of English a teacher will not be able to demonstrate from what sources the English words which we are learning nowadays have appeared. The teacher as a “Dawn of Modern English” should characterize this period of time. The studied period in teaching process must be observed through the history of Anglo-Saxon and Celtic languages. Here a teacher is recommended to devote one language to the first Anglo-Saxon epic “Beowulf” (700’s) – the elegiac history of the last hero of a dying Germanic people. A brief revision of the later epics is also strongly recommended: “Dream of the Rood”, Widsith” (the oldest Anglo-Saxon fragment), “Deor”, the “Wanderer”, and “Seafarer”. The educational aspect of this period concludes the idea of the first written sources of the literature of the British Isles. Teacher should also underline that the peculiarity of this literature is that it has no concrete author: all this epic novels are of collected folk authorship, based on the life experience of the people and the aural retelling from fathers to sons.

The next literary milestone of English, which must be observed and taught by teachers, is the period of 1300’s – the period of rediscovering of the English literature from its Norman influence. Teacher should underline for his students that the language of this period was far cry from the Anglo-Saxon tongue spoken before 1066. It was greatly expanded and strengthened by the addition of thousands of new words from the Norman French; - especially abstract words from intellectual use. Yet, it was not French at all; its grammar and its homely everyday words were of German origin. Teaching aspect of this period is that this combination we call the Middle English, but it is recognizable as the basis for the language we speak today. This period should be taught on the basis of the works as “the Owl and the Nightingale”, “Ancren Riwle” (guide for women on meditation) and others. But the most significant milestone, which ought to be mentioned when teaching the English literature, is the preparation of the first Bible in English by John Wicliffe’s.

The third milestone of the English literature, which is to be analyzed when teaching English, is pre-Renaissance time. This epoch is the epoch of Geoffrey Chaucer – the founder of the English poetry. The most famous work of him is “Canterbury Tales” - a series of stories linked together by their story-teller. Chaucer’ work is rather poetry than prose, however, and his story-tellers are still recognizable through 600 years later. That is why teaching English is impossible without thorough studying of “Canterbury Tales”.

The next period in the history of the English literature which should be taught is the literature of 1500’s. In this period the first lyrics appeared: John Scelton wrote it. Here created Sir Thomas Wyatt. A greater writer still was William Tyndale. His translations of the Bible, made under a ban, greatly influenced the later King James’s version (1611). The statesman who most wanted Tyndale silenced and yet the leading humanists of his age, Sir Thomas More, like his friend Erasmus, unable to break to Catholicism, turned pay for his consciousness. Thomas More’s circle, which included John Colet, Thomas Lynacre, Desiderius Erasmus and Sir Thomas Elyot, was responsible for important translations from Greek, Latin, and Italian. So the teaching of this period must be looked through the history of translation. Sir Thomas More rested in literary history for his» Utopia” non-existing land where everything is good and prosperous. Amongst the other educationally valued authors of that period were Christopher Marlowe and Sir Francis Bacon, Edmund Spencer and Philip Sydney. This period is also significant for studying because of the reason that it was the last period before Shakespeare. All that existed referred to pre-Shakespearean language.

No one doubts that Shakespeare is the most mysterious figure in the world medieval literature. Born in 1594, he stood alone amongst the English writers. The greatest poet and dramatist, Shakespeare left nothing similar to the database of his life. Throughout Shakespeare worked with the simplest of principles, writing at the mind’s own speed, using everything he read, but reworking it first, and depending for character upon the defining trait of flaw. Having written 37 plays and more than 250 sonnets and little poems, Shakespeare up to nowadays rested misunderstood and the argues around his works and his authorship do not become calmer. However, it was Shakespearean language, on the basis of which we teach our students literary English.

The literature of the XVII century has its “i-dots” on John Milton – the author of the poem “Lycidas”. After becoming blind, he wrote one of the most English epic – “Paradise Lost” which retold the story of Adam and Eve and of their temptation by the Satan and fall from God’s favor. The story of Satan’s rebellion can be read in the life of the actual rebellion in which Milton had taken part. In fact, generations of readers have found Satan the most attractive and sympathetic character in the great poem. The educational value for what it is worth teaching is that it was the first call to the traditional preferences of the society.

The 1670’s were the beginning point in the appearing of the new genre in literature – entertaining novel. And the founder of this was Daniel Defoe – a journalist who used to be both the King’s favorite and hostile. In his “Robinson Crusoe”, “Moll Flanders”, and “The Journal of the Plague Year” he turned, as many a journalist before and since, to simulated facts, without bothering to inform the public of its technique. The educational value of Defoe’s works is that his racy and essentially nonliterary efforts stand one of the major building blocks of the English novel. “Robinson Crusoe” was seemingly the most read book since 1700’s up to nowadays. For learning process it is important by the following reason: having written in the plain literary English, it affords to a foreign learner to cognate the English language through entertained reading. This book is also important for us for its being first adventure novel.

The same period is also interesting from the educational viewpoint for the first appearing the magazine language of English. The founders of it were Joseph Addison with his “Tatler” and Richard Steel with his “Spectator”.

The appearance of the first dictionaries is also the education peculiarity of 1770’s. Samuel Johnson edited the first English dictionary. Among the other important literary figures significant for modern teaching process was Alexander Pope - the most admired poet of 1700’s with his own sense of the words. Many English poets tried to imitate Pope’s language but couldn’t. Among the writers the most significant after Defoe was Jonathan Swift. His educational value was in foundation of the English satire. According to the opinions of modern critics, Swift is the best satirist of England now and then.[11]

The second half of the 1700’s is also noticeable for teaching as its poetic significance The first near Romantic, the poet Robert Burns (1759-1796), spoke as a voice of reviving nationalism (Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, 1786). Burns drew from the Scots' traditions and folklore and proved that a Scot need no longer be Anglicized to write great poetry in English. The educational value of Burns is in enlarging the English language with the words of Scotch origin. The second significant poet, whose “Songs of Innocence” are worth teaching the students is William Blake. The works of William Blake (1757-1827), whose Songs of Innocence appeared in 1789, contained a special kind of visionary indepen­dence. Its roots were partly in a tradition of religious mysticism of a deeply individual kind. Blake's later Prophetic Books (1793-1804) anticipated the mixture of politics, religion, and individualism that make up much of modern literature. His "high" lyric style had not been heard in England since the age of Milton. But Blake remained all but unheard in his lifetime. And now we understand that Blake’s poetry is the Example of “pure English” we learn at schools. So that is why his works can serve as an example of literary English which is to be taught by teachers.

The next period of literature which is to be basic for teaching English is the period of Romanticism and its best English representatives - Wordsworth and Coleridge. The real beginning of English Romanticism was the publication of the Lyri­cal Ballads (1798) by William Wordsworth (1770-1850)[12] and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)[13]. We must teach students to it because Wordsworth, the greatest poet of the age, combined a Miltonic dignity with the plain speech and direct feeling of the English country folk among whom he had grown up. Coleridge's more polite and more inhibited poems often provided the trigger to Wordsworth's deeper, but slower response and, what is more important, his works were written on simply understood language, which students can use for improving lexical skills. The other famous poet whose works must be studied is George Gordon (Lord) Byron (1738-1824), whose popularity, political involvement, and frequent lapses of taste made him the chief literary celebrity of his day, is perhaps best known for his Don Juan (1819-1824), a brilliant comic assertion of wit, sex­uality, and physical self-confidence. Byron showed in The Vision of Judgment (1822[14]) and a half-dozen lyrics even more concentrated instances of a prodigious and prodigal talent. John Keats, the other romantic poet, (1795-1821) is probably the best loved lyric poet in the language. The great poems of the end of his life (among them, "Ode to a Nightingale," "Ode on a Grecian Urn," "To Autumn," and "La Belle Dame sans Merci") show a faith in the imagination far in advance of the symbolists. His best poems, along with those of Wordsworth, Byron, and Blake are with Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, and Pope the center of English literary achievement. So learning English without learning his works seems as impossible.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) is a possible addition to the other four Romantic masters. Other writers continue to rediscover him, admiring his heroic intellectual conceptions and his mastery of propulsive rhythmic force.

Almost as swiftly as the Romantic movement began, it ended. With the death of Keats, the high lyric style disappeared. Lesser writers were not of the same inspiration, and the succeeding generation seemed to hear other voices, abandoning the lyric or writing it without conviction.

The 1800’s became a new age of novelists’ approaching. Jane Austen wrote three of her novels in the 1790's but published only after 1810 (Pride and Prejudice, 1813; Mansfield Park, 1814; Emma, 1816). She is meaningful for teaching for she went to Keats's imaginative church of the open heart but sat at the pew of keen observation and careful structure, and her language was the same as beautiful as Keats’s but written in prose.

Sir Walter Scott, a Scotsman, be­came a model for intelligent commercial success all over Europe (Waverley, 1814; Ivanhoe, 1820). Mary Shelley Frankenstein, 1818) and Maria Edge-worth (Castle Rackrent, 1800) extended the daring of women in literature to the portrayal of psychological and social nightmares. In mid-century, an extraordinary trio, Charlotte and Emily Bronte and Elizabeth Gaskell, widened this range still further. George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) also became a major English novelist (The Mill on the Floss, I860; Middlemarch, 1871-1872).

There were to be no English moral giants on the scale of the great French and Russian novelists. Charles Dickens, however (The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, 1836-1837; David Copperfield, 1850; Bleak House, 1853; Our Mutual Friend, 1865; among many others), attained to something at least as great. He wrote, like the early Wordsworth, with the courage of the decent lower middle class, though of city rather than country folk. We teach it for every writer in Europe learned from his broad sympathies, skillful characterizations, and shrewd sense of pace. If he lacked philosophic vision, he made up for it with a stage nearly as broad and all-encompassing as Shakespeare's.

William Makepeace Thackeray, Dickens' contemporary, continued the tradition of 18th-century social satire with a new vitality and a deft hand at well turned and swift moving prose (Vanity Fair, 1848; Henry Esmond, 1852).

As the century progressed, English writers of fiction who worked at a very high level and should be taught include George Meredith (The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, 1859), Anthony Trollope (the "Barsetshire" novels, 1855-1867), Samuel Butler (The Way of All Flesh, 1903), and the remarkable Thomas Hardy (Tess of the D'Urbervilles, 1891; Jude the Obscure, 1896), also recognized as among the most enduring of English poets.

Next noticeable period for teaching was the period of Victorian poetry which underwent a difficult time after the death of Keats. The large voices among the Victorians belonged to Alfred Tennyson (Poems, 1832; In Memoriam, 1851; Idylls of the King, 1859-1885) and Robert Browning (Men and Women, 1855; The Ring and the Book, 1868). Both were so preoccupied with the responsibilities of national greatness that their considerable gifts were ultimately betrayed. Educational value of them is that Tennyson's saving grace is his occasional flight of sober lyric; Browning's is his delight in the sheer variety of life's ironies.

Other interesting, intelligent poets seemed unable to find a sense of identity. They include Matthew Arnold and the gifted friend, whose premature elegy he was to write,-Arthur Hugh Clough; and the "Pre-Raphaelites," a group seeking a supposed medieval spiritual unity; the group included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, and Coventry Patmore. Even a few of great promise seemed somehow blocked from fully realizing their gifts. These include Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Sonnets from the Portuguese, 1850) and Christina Rossetti (Goblin Market, 1862 ;) Thus these poets had no any meaningful educational significance.

Thus we can draw the following conclusions:

·  Teaching English is impossible without treating to the literary sources of this beautiful language.

·  Every period of the English literature had its significant language peculiarities which must be observed when learning English.

·  One who knows the English literature well owes the conversation partners of any rank and position!

Bibliography:

1. Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe McMillan Publishers 1997 pp.34-39, 45-49, 59-63, 128, 214-226

2. ”Robinson Crusoe and his adventure“ М. Prosveshcheniye 1973 pp.59,64, 78-79

3. M. A. Shishmoreva About the translation of “Robinson Crusoe” M. “Knowledge” 1987 pp.55-58, 99, 114

4. Z. N. Shuravskaya About Daniel Defoe and his novel “Robinson Crusoe” L. Art Literature Publishing House. 1974 pp.56-59

5. J.Priestley Novel School in Britain Washington University Press W.2002 pp.17-46

6.Readings on the English Literature M. High School 1978 pp.161-165

7. History of the English Literature M. Prosveshcheniye 1971 pp.204-212

8. G.H.Healey The history of writing of “Robinson Crusoe” London University Press London 2001 pp.329-330

9. I.Turgenev Collection of works in 27 volumes Vol.26 pp.311-312

10. В.Г. Белинский Робинзон Крузо. Собр.соч. в 45тт. Т.44 стр.478-483

11. П.А.Корсаков Л.Н.Толстой о Даниэле Дефо М. Просвещение 1967 стр.63

12. П. Кончаловский

 Among many publish and bad translations we may mansion. P. A. Korsakov and P. Konchalovsky’s translation.

13. Даниэль Дефо Робинзон Крузо М. ИХЛ 1986 стр. 45-46, 90-93, 101-107, 27б, 298

14. World Book Encyclopedia Vol 4 New York 1993 pp.146-148

15. Internet: www.online-literature.com/defoe./ Extensive Biography of Daniel Defoe and a searchable collection of works.pmp. pp.1-9

16. Internet:http://www.academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_18c/

defoe/ Daniel Defoe in The Cambridge History of English and American Literature.txt pp.3-7

17. Internet: http//www.cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/defoe. / Texts of classic literature, drama, and poetry together with detailed literature study guides.html pp.45-47.

18. Internet: http//www.bibliomania.com/0/0/17/31/frameset./ The selected works of Daniel Defoe .htm pp.14-15

19. Internet: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/defoe.htm / Daniel Defoe:A depth look at the author's life and his impact on the world of literature.htm pp.2-9

20. Internet: http ://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jdefoe.htm/Short biography of Daniel Defoe.html pp. 4-8

21. Internet: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Defoe/ The Letters of Daniel Defoe edited by GH Healey.htm. pp. 45-49

[1]Short biography geared toward a him.

[2] Daniel Dafoe „ Robinson Crusoe“ p.231 „ Ginriff Publisher“

[3] Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe McMillan Publishers 1997 pp.34-39, 45-49, 59-63, 128, 214-226

[4] Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe McMillan Publishers 1997 pp.34-39, 45-49, 59-63, 128, 214-226

[5] П.А.Корсаков Л.Н.Толстой о Даниэле Дефо М. Просвещение 1967 стр.63

[6] M. A. Shishmoreva About the translation of “Robinson Crusoe” M. “Knowledge” 1987 pp.55-58, 99, 114

[7] Даниэль Дефо Робинзон Крузо М. ИХЛ 1986 стр. 45-46, 90-93, 101-107, 27б, 298

[8] Даниэль Дефо Робинзон Крузо М. ИХЛ 1986 стр. 45-46, 90-93, 101-107, 27б, 298

[9] „Robinson Crusoe and his adventure“  Мосва “Издательство Просвещение” 1973г

[10] Daniel Defoe in The Cambridge History of English and American Literature.txt pp.3-7

[11] В.Г. Белинский Робинзон Крузо. Собр.соч. в 45тт. Т.44 стр.478-483

[12] World Book Encyclopedia Vol 4 New York 1993 pp.146-148

[13] ”Robinson Crusoe and his adventure“  М. Prosveshcheniye 1973 pp.59,64

[14] Z. N. Shuravskaya About Daniel Defoe and his novel “Robinson Crusoe” L. Art Literature Publishing House. 1974 pp.56-59