Hanover Place: Thoughts on 18th Century British Literature

The isolation and containment experienced in Robinson Crusoe is terrifyingly delightful for a reader. At one hand, the novel itself is an interesting take on colonialism: the protagonist literally colonizes the island in order to survive. On the other hand, I think it's a novel about identity and self discovery in a moment of pure crisis. Several themes emerge through the text: isolation, colonization, survivalism,  religious exploration (or rediscovery is perhaps a better term), etc. The story itself has remained a literary classic. It has been told countless times and in many different forms. Hollywood has always had a fascination with the story: several film productions have been made; more recently, Cast Away (starring Tom Hanks) has taken up the story and reintroduced it into the public consciousness. This leads me to a question: what is it about Robinson Crusoe that remains so fresh and desirable to the public? I think one of the many appeals of the novel is that ...

The Empire has done some terrible things, but the slave trade may be amongst it's worst contributions to the world. Oroonoko traces the story of an African Prince taken into slavery and sold. The novel (if that's what you want to call it; it may be better to think of it as a novella) plays with structure and form. It seems to be an early example of a "frame" novel. The narration is strong, and there are vivid and wonderful descriptions of Africa. Location and scene is developed nicely. There are unusual elements where the novel shifts from 1st to 3rd, but this doesn't hinder the reader. The novel seems to want to suggest the evils or perils of slavery, and using the primary character as a price, does seem to really want to focus the readership of the novel to British elites. The novel makes you think about slavery and it makes you see slaves as people, not just as objects for trade and labor.

1. Thesis of Work Why Do We Care about Fictional Characters is primarily concerned with the cognitive approach to understanding relationships readers enjoy with fictional characters. Vermeule outlines three specific goals for her book in the first chapter: How do humans engage with fictional characters Why do humans spend a great deal of time and energy explaining themselves to others How does the relationship we have with fictional characters relate to our relationships with real people 2. Methodology Blakey Vermeule is a professor of Literature at Stanford University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1995. Vermuele incorporates several different traditions into her work including literary criticism, neuroaesthetics, philosophy, and cognitive science. 3. Contribution The major contribution of this work is the establishment of literary characters as being important or reimagined as integral to understanding literature as ...