ABSTRACT
Among the books of travel and discovery published in the modern period, none has made a greater impression on geographical imaginations than Robinson Crusoe, the single most famous, representative and influential adventure story of the time. Popular since its publication in 1719, Daniel Defoe's original novel has since been transformed and redefined, with many different editions, abridge ments, imitations and readings. The production of'Robinsons' was most prolific in the nineteenth century when the story took its place among the foundational myths of British culture. held that place until after the Second World War, when one critic argued that 'Almost universally known, almost universally thought of as least half real, [Robinson Crusoe] cannot be refused the status of myth' (Watt 1951: 96).
