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The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders
Daniel Defoe
publisher: Querido, Amsterdam, 1722



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Justine
Marquis de Sade


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Or: 'The fortunes & misfortunes of the famous Moll Flanders, who was born in Newgate, and during a life of continued variety for threescore years, besides her childhood, was twelve year a whore,
five times a wife (whereof once to her own brother), twelve year a thief, eight year a transported felon in Virginia, at last grew rich, lived honest & died a penitent. Written from her own memorandums.'

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ON DANIEL DEFOE'S BOOKSHELF

Lazarillo de Tormes
Anonymous, 1554
The first picaresque novel, and one of the gems of Spanish literature. A brief, simply told tale of a rogue’s adventures and misadventures - full of laconic cynicism and spiced with puns and wordplay.

The Tempest
William Shakespeare, 1611 (first published 1623)
One of Shakespeare's 'romances': Prospero, the duke of Milan and a powerful magician, is banished from Italy and cast to sea by his usurping brother, Antonio, and Alonso, the king of Naples. As the play begins, Antonio and Alonso come under Prospero’s magic power as they sail past his island. Prospero seeks to use his magic to make these lords repent and restore him to his rightful place.

Alexander Selkirk: an essay
Sir Richard Steele, 1713
Alexander Selkirk, a difficult and unpleasant British sailor, was put ashore at his own request on Más a Tierra Island off the coast of Chile in 1704 and remained alone there until 1709. Selkirk's story was also told by the essayist Richard Steele in The Englishman of Dec. 3, 1713.

BOOKS BY DANIEL DEFOE:

Robinson Crusoe
1719
Robinson Crusoe is the sole survivor of a shipwreck and struggles for many years on an uninhabited island with no hope of rescue. With patience, ingenuity and optimism he begins to transform the island and soon his only lack is human company.
WHAT TO READ AFTER ROBINSON CRUSOE?

'ROBINSONADES' (ALONE ON AN ISLAND)
Lord of the Flies
William Golding, 1954
After surviving a plane crash, a group of boys set up a fragile community on a previously uninhabited island. As memories of home recede and the blood from frenzied pig-hunts arouses them, the boys' childish fear turns into something deeper and more primitive.

The Mysterious Island
Jules Verne, 1874
Adventure novel by Jules Verne, published in French in three volumes as L'ile mysterieuse in 1874 and included in his popular science-fiction series 'Voyages extraordinaires' (1863-1910).

Galapagos
Kurt Vonnegut, 1985
The human survivors of the 'nature cruise of the century', are quietly evolving into sleek, furry creatures with flippers and small brains. All other forms of humankind have ceased to exist, made redundant by their prized big brains.

(POSTMODERN) VARIATIONS ON DEFOE
Friday
Michel Tournier, 1967
A retelling of Robinson Crusoe. Cast away on a tropical island, Michel Tournier's god-fearing Crusoe sets out to tame it, to remake it in the image of the civilization he has left behind. Alone and against incredible odds, he almost succeeds. Then Friday appears and teaches him that there are, after all, better things in life than civilization.

Foe
J.M. Coetzee, 1986
Susan Barton finds herself marooned on an island in the Atlantic with an Englishman named Robinson Cruso and his mute (mutilated) slave, Friday. Rescued after a year of Cruso's company, back in England with Friday in tow, she approaches the author Daniel Foe, offering him the story.

CONTEMPORARIES
Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift, 1726
In this 18th-century satire, Gulliver's adventures in Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa and in the country of the Houyhnhnms, expose the absurdity and hypocrisy of intellectuals and governments the world over.

The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders
1722
Or: 'The fortunes & misfortunes of the famous Moll Flanders, who was born in Newgate, and during a life of continued variety for threescore years, besides her childhood, was twelve year a whore, five times a wife (whereof once to her own brother), twelve year a thief, eight year a transported felon in Virginia, at last grew rich, lived honest & died a penitent. Written from her own memorandums.'
Journal of the Plague Year
1665
An account of the Great Plague of London in 1664-65, written by ' a Citizen, who continued all the while in London. Never made publick before.'
Roxana: the Fortunate Mistress
1724

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The Ledge
editor-in-chief: Stacey Knecht, info@the-ledge.com
Thanks to: De digitale pioniers and
Het Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds
Design: Maurits de Bruijn

Copyright: Pieter Steinz, Stacey Knecht
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