Introduction: Robinson Crusoe, Karl Marx and the critique of colonial violence

As we press on into the fourth century after the first publication of Robinson Crusoe , in which Daniel Defoe’s eponymous hero, Robinson Crusoe, continues to stand for the man alone on an island, variously governor-king and rugged individual survivor, it is an apt moment to reconsider the role he has taken up in our collective imagination. The four articles in this special focus issue take up their rereadings of Crusoe in light of 300 years of interpretation, the end of the era of European colonialism, and the advent of postcolonial thought. The by-now enormous scholarly literature built up around Crusoe speaks to his enduring appeal for academics, critics, creative writers, and even economists (Reddleman 2023, 465) and his popularity extends into popular culture, where a Google search reveals the tremendously rich afterlife of this character and his name. Crusoe is routinely mentioned in news and entertainment stories with even a passing suggestion of being isolated or marooned, survival, shipwreck, living on an island, or simply going on holiday. His name echoes through films, TV series, video games, board games, operettas and pantomimes, cartoons, holiday resorts, islands, airlines, artworks, and novels.