Oroonoko and Robinson Crusoe : uncovering the racial and colonial issues in the eighteenth-century travelogue

Abstract

The research I am proposing aims to uncover the racist and colonial undercurrents of two of the most renowned eighteenth-century travelogues; Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and Aphra Behn's Oroonoko. The narrative techniques of the two novels have been the source of various debates as to whether these should be considered faithful documents of Restoration imperialism or simply adventure narratives with imaginary exotic landscapes. In order to investigate this issue, four principal approaches will be adopted: the first chapter, entitled 'A Portrait of the Colonizer as a Young Hero', provides an observation of the figure of the hero within the two narratives, taking into consideration the presence of racist ideology in the assignment of character roles. Octave Mannoni's 'Dependence Complex' theory will be thoroughly evaluated in the second section of this research, in relation to the different scenarios of colonial relationship that Defoe and Behn designate throughout their narratives. References will also be made to Albert Memmi' s observation of the colonial situation in The Colonizer and the Colonized. The ultimate goal of this chapter, entitled 'From Arabian Scents to Glowing Gems: The Colonial Relationship In and Beyond the Narrative', is to establish a comparison between the representations of British imperialism in eighteenth-century fiction and the real situation as identified by two of the most influential colonial theorists of our times. 'The Black Man and the Time Machine' outlines the racist behaviour of the white protagonists towards the black Other, particularly in terms of the assumption that the primitiveness of the black man determines his 'inferiority'. The last chapter, entitled 'The Myth of the Royal Slave', seeks to demonstrate that the prospect of a slave in the shape and image of Behn's Oroonoko is, in fact, nothing more than a fabrication of fiction.