Week-end is for literature. Not sure why and how the memory of Robinson Crusoe came back to my mind this week. But it came back. Vivid and moving. 28 years confined on his island .... mostly alone until his rescue of Friday ... the ultimate confined hero! A great story in itself attracting many readings. Allegory of civilisation? Support for colonialism? Discussion of cultural relativism? Religious manifesto? Treaty on dealing with nature? Economic textbook? All of the above? But surprisingly an obvious echo with some questions of the day:
«It is never too late to be wise.
Expect nothing and you’ll always be surprised
Fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself
I saw the cloud though I did not foresee the storm
I had enough to eat and to supply my wants, and what was all the rest to me? If I killed more flesh than I could eat, the dog must eat it.... If I sowed more corn than I could eat, it must be spoiled. The trees that I cut down were lying to rot...
In a word, the nature... dictated to me... that all the good things of this world are no farther good to us than they are for our use....
And last:
It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep than a sheep at the head of an army of lions. (rings a bell ?)
