D. De Foe

1
D. De Foes Robinson Crusoe
A Comparative Analysis in Fiction

• J. Coetzees Foe

2
IDENTITY AND GENDER IN LITERATURE
An Intertextual Reading From Robinson to
Foe Una lettura intertestuale Da Robinson a
Foe
NOVEL
Robinson

Susan
3
A silent dialogue in fiction

• Robinson Crusoe
• 18th century

• Foe
• 20ieth century

YEAR
1719
1986
4
Guidelines

• Narrative conventions compared
• Narrative technique/s
• Use of language
• Style
• Tone
• Gender
• ?
• Overall effect

S I M I L A R I T I
E S
D I F F E R N C E S

Robinson Crusoe

Foe
_
5
Narrative Techniques

• NARRATOR
• 1st person narrator
• a man, called
• Robinson Crusoe
• the protagonist of the story
• the stereotype of a colonialist

• NARRATOR/S
• 1st person narrator
• a woman, called Susan Barton
• the protagonist of the story
• the symbol of
• marginalization

How has the readers response changed? Multiple
perspectives ofa situation/case/reality
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STYLISTIC CHOICES

• Robinson Crusoe
• the novel starts with the introduction of
  Robinson Crusoes social background
• storyline develops through all the book
• the technique of telling is privileged
• the novel adopts the format of the diary
• the novel is organized into twenty-six chapters
• there is a realistic description of events

• Foe
• the novel starts in medias res
• storyline is restricted to the first chapter
• Susan uses both the technique of showing and the
  technique of telling
• there are different kinds of narration (telling,
  letters, showing,
• the novel is organized into 4 chapters
• Language recalling poetry ? alliterations and
  anaphors
• there are a lot of exotic elements
• in the second chapter Susan uses formal language
• chapters 2-3-4 reflect on truth and writing

Chapters
4
26
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What does Foe mean?The relevance of a title

• Why this title?
• The word Foe is
• an obsolete word
• means adversary and enemy
• is short and sticks in the mind
• is a carrier of meaning
• recalls the name of Crusoes novelist, Daniel De
  Foe
• is a secret man
• Susan asked him to write her story
• Etymology
• Webliography http//www.wordreference.com/ FOE
  adversary rival
• Webliography http//www.allwords.com/ FOE
  abbreviation of friends of the Earth
• Webliography http//www.allwords.com/ FOE
  Anglo-Saxon fah hostile.

?
Foe
writer
8
Different fictional aims

• The classical version
• Robinsons narrator privileges actions
• Accurate and detailed description of reality
• The reader is asked to create a mental picture of
  facts and actions
• Defoes concern for Realism

• Coetzees version
• Susan privileges emotions
• The reader is emotionally involved
• The narrator often addresses her words to the
  reader, expresses her emotions

?
Truth
Truths
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MAN Truth ? Rationality, ConcretenessWoman
Truths ? Emotions, Sympathy

• Mystery wraps up any moment of the protagonists
  existence
• There is a contrast between Cruso and Susan
  features
• Susan has a controversial attitude towards Crusoe
• (II Chapter) intimate atmosphere Susan and Foe
  find a personal relationship

In Susans narration

• In Robinsons writing
• a realistic style of narration
• ?
• to provide the illusion of authenticity through
  fictional material

GENDER
Fiction cannot tell the truth
M
W
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A DIFFERENT FRIDAY

• Friday
• He is a black man and a servant ? Robinson
• He cant speak because he doesnt have a tongue ?
  Foe
• The importance of his mouth ? it hides the truth
• Friday ? the hidden problem of racism represented
• Friday ? lack of identity unable to speak and
  tell what really happend
• He is deprived of a language of his own
• He is not provided with
• EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

A video OFFLINE E OFFLINE I
De Foe
Coetzee
Friday
Robin
Foe
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The problem of language

• wants to underline the writers intentions
  (John Coetzees)
• focus no longer on what has been told
• but rather
• on how and from whose perspective it is being
  told!
• SUSAN
• is worried she is not sure she will be able to
  tell the truth about the adventure she is living.
• Foe, the teller, expresses frequent doubts as
  for fiction being able to tell reality.
• ROBINSON
• is sure about reality he writes as to make the
  reader visualize the island with all the details
  he adopts

Voice
tongue
ex pression
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The Classical Novel

• Strong sense of concreteness
• Self-assured male character
• Worried with REALITY
• Marginalized position of character perceived as
  ALTER/DIFFERENT
• Male narrator
• Hevily relies on factual vison of things
• Myth of Western society
• Mutual ignorance of each other language
• NO INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE
• or
• EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

18th
male
No Alter
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The Postmodern and Postcolonial Novel

• Silently interacts with the past ?
  intertextuality
• Sense of relativity of experience
• Does not believe in unique TRUTH
• Adopts different points of view ? truths
• Privileges INCLUSION
• Fights MARGINALIZATION
• Appreciates the added value of difference and
  MULTIPLE IDENTITIES
• Considers MULTILINGUALISM a requisite for the
  construction and expression of IDENTITY and
  DIGNITY
• languages and cultural polyphony
• key competences (Education for All) for
• sustainable human development
• OUR CONCLUSIONS

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