Daniel Defoe as Character: Subversion of the Myths of Robinson Crusoe and of the Author

Abstract

My aim in this chapter is to pursue in parallel a dual line of enquiry into two separate Robinsonades, J. M. Coetzee’s Foe and Gaston Compère’s Robinson ’86,¹ both of which include Daniel Defoe as a character. The first part of my investigation concerns references to the author in a rewriting of his own text and seeks to analyse the function of this narrativisation of the author. The second part of my investigation is more specific and follows on from the first. It concerns the role played by this writing-of-the-author-into-the-text, in deconstructing the myth of Robinson Crusoe itself.