Friday

A provocative retelling of Robinson Crusoe, this classic of twentieth-century French literature depicts the explorer's struggle to tame nature and the transformative power of his relationship with the indigenous character, Friday.

One of the most commonly assigned books in French high schools, Friday mines the philosophical underpinnings of Defoe's original story, exploring concepts of imperialism, world-building, and existentialism.

Friday is the Friday of Robinson Crusoe, and Michel Tournier's retelling of Defoe's tale of solitude and survival turns it on its head. Cast away on a tropical island, the God-fearing Crusoe hasn't the least doubt what he must do: tame the wilderness and stamp it with the sign of civilization, a fool's errand to which he devotes years and in which he comes close to succeeding. Then Friday shows up, infuriating him with his "irrepressible, lyrical, and blasphemous" laugh, and a new, more challenging task confronts the island's self-proclaimed master. But after an unforeseen event destroys all of Crusoe's work, it is up to Friday to teach him just how ignorant he is and always has been.

Friday was Tournier's first novel, and it quickly found a wondering and delighted readership. Writing about the book in his autobiography, Tournier asks, "What was Friday to Daniel Defoe? Nothing: an animal, at best a creature waiting to receive his humanity from Robinson Crusoe, who as a European was in sole possession of all knowledge and wisdom." In Friday, Tournier steps out of the secular world of the Western novel into the sacred precincts of universal mythology. The result is radiant, sensual, funny, and utterly unexpected--a modern masterpiece.

Michel Tournier (1924-2016) was born in Paris and studied philosophy under Jean-Paul Sartre and Gaston Bachelard at the Sorbonne, followed by four years of further study at the University of Tübingen, where one of his classmates was Gilles Deleuze. After failing to pass the civil service exam that would allow him to teach philosophy, Tournier turned his attention to translation and broadcasting, eventually becoming a well-known host of cultural programs on radio and television. Friday, his best-selling first novel, was published in 1967 and awarded the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française. He went on to write six more novels--among them The Ogre (winner of the Prix Goncourt in 1970), Gemini, The Four Wise Men, and Gilles and Jeanne--as well as several books of nonfiction, including The Wind Spirit and The Mirror of Ideas. He also adapted Friday as a children's book, published in English as Friday and Robinson.

Norman Denny (1901-1982) was an English writer and translator. He is best known for his translations of French literature into English, in particular his translation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.