The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-18
NO CRUSOE ISLAND.
DefOe's story Had Nothing to Do with
Selkirk's Life on Juan Fernandez.

New York Sun.
Many persons seem to think that the
largest island in the Juan Fernandez group,
off the coast of Chile, was the scene chosen
by Defoe for the adventures of his i'm
mortal Robinson Crusoe." Our consul at
Valparaiso wrote a few weeks ago of Juan
Fernandez as made famous by the story
of Robinson Crusoe;" and one of the New
York papers last week referred to this same
island in the Pacific as Robinson Crusoe
island"
The fact is that the island on which Cru
soc and his faithful Friday had so many
charming or thrilling experiences never
had an existence, except in the Imagination
Of Defoe. On the title page of his book De-
foe wrote of the solitary home of Crusoe as
IAN uninhabited island on the coast of Amer
lea near the mouth of the great river of
Oroonoque." Crusoe, therefore, was en-
vironed by the Atlantic instead of Pacific
waters; but there is no island off the mouth
of the Orinocc. If Defoe had cared rap to
make his immortal story geographically
plausible he would not have placed the
abode of Crusoe off the mouth of the OIi-
nOco. The story itself carried with it the
conviction of very truth but not the geo.
graphical position assigned to Crusoe's
island.
1t is a noteworthy fact that many of the
best accounts written of Juan Fernadez
contain no allusion to Defoe'S novel. The
one book that has been written on the
island, however, perpetrates the blunder
alluded to above A CHILEAN named Vicuna,
In 1888, published a book of S34 pages, in
which he gave an exhaustive description
of the island and its history His sub
title was History of the Island of Robin
son Crusoe." His book contains long
count of the various opinions as TO whether
Ir~<,
of Alexander Selkirk when he led lonely
life for four years on Juan Fernandez.
The outline of Selkirk's life that has come
down to shows clearly enough that he
had little merit of his own. but the contro-
Versy that became even bitter soon after
Defoe's story was published as to whether
the novelist had appropriated Selkirk' S mar
rative and interviewer 1t with his fiction
had the curious effect to make Selkirk a
hero for all time. His name became asso-
ciated with the story of Robinson Crusoe"
simply because it was stoutly asserted in
Defoe's day that the great novelist was a
plagiarist who had sponged on the sailor
SellIirk for literary material.
1t was agreed by all critics long ago that
there is not a particle of evidence that De-
foe made piratical use of Selkirk's nara
tive in the preparation of his story. There
is no similarity whatever in the descrip
tons of the real and the supposititious
islands, in their climates or in the incidents
given in the two books. Neither is there
any more reason to believe that Defoe de
rived the main idea of his story from Sell
kinks solitary life on an island than that
he may have obtained it from the published
account of the experiences of Peter Serrano,
a shipwrecked sailor who lived alone for
several years on an island In the Caribbean
under conditions somewhat similar to those
described in DefOe'S story. An English edi-
ton of Serrano's narrative was published
some years before Robinson Crusoe" was
written.
1t is very likely that the idea of writing
a story about a castaway on an island may
l,ox- ted n DefOe q
other Of these narratives of actual expert
ence but this is a very slender basis upon
which to ground the accusations that were
made against Defoe; and the very circum-
stance that he was falsely charged with
having made improper use of Selkirk's book
makes il unjust TO the memory OF the
prince Of racOnteurs as we'll as incorrect In
fact to speak of Juan Fernandez as Robin
son Crusoe island