Representation and the process of legitimating the appropriation of space in Daniel Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe"

Abstract EN

The relationship between the ex-colonised and ex-coloniser is still enmeshed with unresolved tensions.

part of these tensions resulted from the gap of understanding between both camps, which was itself a result of inadequate representations, particularly in literary works.

in the context of the 18th century overseas exploration, Daniel Defoe wrote a novel, Robinson Crusoe, that set the literary standards for writing about non-Europeans.

in his representations of those peoples and lands, he gave vent to all the typical European prejudices about them, and pointed subtly to some of their aspects but not others in a way that was meant to legitimise the appropriation of those territories and people by Europeans.

this paper explores how these representations work and to what extent they shaped the relationship between colonizer / colonised.

this task is carried by the reliance a close reading of the text as a method, in the light of the theories of Frantz fanon and Edward Said.