In a certain sense, this text has also witnessed the plunging into, and involvement of, the island of Formosa in the global geo-political encounters and conflicts since the Age of Discovery. As England stood at the threshold of the industrial revolution in the early eighteenth century, Defoe’s experiments with prose fiction and his attempts to represent the prevailing ideologies of mercantilism and monarchism had a significant impact on shaping the form and development of the genre of the novel. It is believed that the progress of material culture and economic growth has to do with the evolution and formation of literary genres. Thus the aim of this class is to lead the students to ponder over how Defoe utilized prose fiction to represent the agenda of social changes in the contexts of English colonial expansion, global exploration and exploitation in the eighteenth century. The fact that the first serial of the story became a best seller immediately after its publication indicated that the subject matter struck deeply at the structure of English sentiments collectively. In a word, Crusoe’s detailed accounts and enumerations of expeditions, businesslike transactions, and adventuresome spirits embodied the emblems of Geistegeschichte of “true-born Englishmen” in the Eighteenth Century. 

Lectures and discussions are the major pedagogy in the class. The instructor will lecture on the topics and issues concerning the relationship between the evolution of the socio-cultural contexts and the text per se as an embodiment of mercantilism in England in the eighteenth century. Students are expected to read closely the designated reading materials before class and participate in class discussion so as to articulate their understanding and critiques of materials under study. The instructor will post to eeclass sections of Lexicons to Robinson Crusoe on weekly basis to help students better understand the text (See the Lexicons Sample attached). Beginning from Week 2, the instructor will ask students to share their opinions and remarks on the designated reading materials which may serve as a starting point of the lecture and class discussion. As oral discussions and Q & A (Questions and Answers) will be given at the beginning of the class, one who is late for more than 15 minutes might miss Oral Conversations. 

The aim of the exam is to test the students’ ability to analyze, organize, and critique the text and some materials related to this field. All of these serve for the instructor to understand the validity of the pedagogy, to train the students’ capabilities to organize their perception of the text and some related materials, and to articulate their knowledge of the field in verbal and written forms both logically coherent and grammatically correct.