Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe is one of the most famous books in all European literature. But for every ten people who know Robinson, hardly one knows its author. Having entered youth literature, this book detached itself from its historical and literary context. Besides Robinson, three books from the XVII-XVIII centuries have firmly and permanently remained in children's literature: Don Quixote, Gulliver, and Münchhausen. The fate of Münchhausen differs from the fate of the other two books. Münchhausen is limited to what the child reader can find in it. If it is read at a later age, it is only as a memory of childhood. No new horizons are opened in the book at secondary reading. Consequently, the name of the author of Münchhausen is unknown to anyone. Only specialized bibliographers know what his name was, when, and in what language he wrote.