A Comparative Analysis

in
Fiction

D. De Foe’s Robinson Crusoe

J. Coetzee’s Foe
 IDENTITY AND GENDER IN LITERATURE

An Intertextual Reading
From Robinson to Foe

NOVEL
Una lettura intertestuale
Da Robinson a Foe

Robinson

Susan
 A silent dialogue in fiction

Robinson Crusoe Foe

18th century 20ieth century

YEAR

1719

1986
 Guidelines
Narrative conventions compared

 Narrative technique/s S

 Use of language I D
M
 Style I
F
 Tone I
F
 Gender
+ L
E

 Robinson Crusoe
A
R

= Overall effect N
C
Foe R
I
E
_ S
 Narrative Techniques
NARRATOR NARRATOR/S
1st person narrator 1st person narrator
a man, called a woman, called Susan
Robinson Crusoe Barton
the protagonist of the the protagonist of the
story story
the stereotype of a the symbol of
colonialist marginalization

How has the reader’s response changed?

Multiple perspectives ofa situation/case/reality
 STYLISTIC CHOICES
Robinson Crusoe Foe

 the novel starts with the
introduction of Robinson
Crusoe’s social background
 storyline develops through all
the book
 the technique of telling is
privileged
 the novel adopts the format of
Chapters the diary
 the novel is organized into
twenty-six chapters
 there is a realistic description
4
of events
 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

26
 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 Crusoe’s 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
Foe
friends of the Earth
Webliography: http://www.allwords.com/ FOE: Anglo-Saxon fah
writer hostile.
 Different fictional aims
The classical version
 Robinson’s narrator
privileges actions
 Accurate and detailed
description of reality Coetzee’s version
 The reader is asked to  Susan privileges
create a mental emotions
picture of facts and  The reader is
actions emotionally
?  Defoe’s concern for involved
Realism  The narrator often
Truth addresses her words
to the reader,
expresses her
emotions
Truths
 MAN = Truth  Rationality,
Rationality Concreteness
Woman = Truths  Emotions,
Emotions Sympathy

In Robinson’s writing In Susan’s narration

a realistic style of narration

to provide the illusion of
authenticity through
fictional material
GENDER
Fiction
M atmosphere: Susan and
cannot tell the truth
W
 Mystery wraps up any
moment of the
protagonist’s existence
 There is a contrast
between Cruso and
Susan’ features
 Susan has a
controversial attitude
towards Crusoe
 (II Chapter) intimate
Foe find a personal
relationship
 A DIFFERENT FRIDAY
A video
De Foe OFFLINE E OFFLINE I

Friday
Coetzee
He is a black man and a servant → Robinson
He can’t speak because he doesn’t 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
Friday happend
He is deprived of a language of his own
Robin
…
He is not provided with
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
Foe
 The problem of language
… wants to underline the writer’s intentions (John Coetzee’s)

 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.
Voice
ROBINSON
 is sure about reality: he writes as to make the reader
tongue visualize the island with all the details he adopts

ex
pression
 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
18th
 Mutual ignorance of each other language

male NO INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE

or
No
Alter EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
 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
Who is speaking to me
Privileges INCLUSION
Fights MARGINALIZATION
Appreciates the added value of difference and MULTIPLE
IDENTITIES
POST Considers MULTILINGUALISM a requisite for the
construction and expression of IDENTITY and DIGNITY
BEFORE
languages and cultural polyphony
key competences (Education for All) for
sustainable human development
AFTER OUR CONCLUSIONS