Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-238) and index.

Preliminary Material -- PREFACE -- READING ROBINSON CRUSOE -- PRINT DISCOURSE IN DEFOE’S DAY -- A LONG BATTLE OVER THE SHORTEST-WAY -- PIRATING ROBINSON CRUSOE -- ROBINSON CRUSOE’S TEXTUAL NEIGHBORS -- WHAT DEFOE LOST TO THE PIRATES -- A WORLD UNITED BY TRADE -- SERIOUS REFLECTIONS -- THE END OF THE DEBATE -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- CURRICULUM VITAE OF THE AUTHOR.

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This study examines Defoe’s three-volume Robinson Crusoe series in the light of the ‘banter’ style he developed as a pamphleteer. That heavily ironic style had brought him renown but also put him in the pillory. The present study explores for the first time Defoe’s complaint that readers and pirate abridgers misread his tale of the would-be trader Robinson Crusoe . Using Discourse Analysis and Relevance Theory to examine the early abridgements of Volume I and Defoe’s subsequent two volumes, this study argues that Defoe’s greatest success is also a peculiar failure.