WOSP

In 1704 Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor and privateer, was marooned on an island in the Pacific Ocean. His story may have inspired Daniel Defoe to write one of the first English language novels  The Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe . Selkirk was born and raised in Lower Largo on the Fife coast.  In the novel, after twenty-five years of solitude, Crusoe encounters cannibals visiting his island. A man who is about to be eaten escapes, hotly pursued by two of his captors. Crusoe kills the pursuers and the escapee bows before him in submission and gratitude. Thereafter he becomes Crusoe’s dutiful servant. In return Crusoe gives him three unsolicited gifts: the English language, Christianity, and the name Friday. One reading of the Crusoe story is as an apologia for imperialism. Crusoe’s mission before being shipwrecked was to fetch slaves from Africa. Once on the island he is presented as a white European Christian bringing his civilising influence to ...