When, after a year of being alone on his island, Robinson Crusoe sees a footprint in the sand, the reader of Robinson Crusoe trembles. Will Crusoe find another human being to end his loneliness? Is the footprint the sign of an enemy? Since 1719, when Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe, thousands of people who enjoy English novels have thrilled to this great adventure story. But few know how the story came to be written. Robinson Crusoe was the first English novel. Its birth brought together the misadventures of a Scotch "failure" and the untapped imagination of an aging English scribbler. Near the end of the Seventeenth Century, the hot-tempered Alexander Selkirk was charged with bad conduct while in church. Rather than face this charge, he ran away to sea. Several years later, Selkirk found himself on the ship of an English privateer. The privateer was preying on Spanish shipping. But Selkirk quarreled bitterly with the Captain. So, when the ship came to the island of Juan Femandez in the South Seas, Selkirk asked to be put ashore. When he saw that there were no people on the island, he begged to be taken back on board. But the Captain refused--Selkirk had gone too far. Over four years later, Selkirk was rescued by another ship. When Selkirk got back to England, the story of his life on the island fired the imagination of Daniel Defoe. Defoe had been earning a living by his pen since he was thirty. He was amazingly hard-working. He wrote a whole newspaper three times a week. He also made part of his living from politics. He supported both political parties. He told each party that it had his sole support. Defoe's morals were weak. But he was a fine writer. He was almost sixty when, in the midst of his work in politics, he wrote Robinson Crusoe. In it, Defoe--said one critic--"forged a story, and forced it on the world for truth." The detail of Crusoe's battle for survival on a lonely island is so vivid that the reader of Robinson Crusoe accepts the product of the author's imagination for reality. Robinson Crusoe became the first of a long line of heroes and heroines that have peopled English novels since Defoe's time. QUESTIONS:

Q1:
1. What novel preceded all others in English?
2. What was the inaugural novel of England?
3. 
Q2:
1. Who was Robinson Crusoe based on?
2. Who served as the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe?
3. 
Q3:
1. Who was charged with bad conduct while in church?
2. Who was guilty of acting poorly while in church?
3. 
Q4:
1. When was Alexander Selkirk charged?
2. At what point in time did Alexander Selkirk's legal worries manifest?
3. 
Q5:
1. Did Alexander Selkirk accept his charges?
2. Was Alexander Selkirk okay with facing the consequences of his poor conduct?
3. 
Q6:
1. What were the charges against Alexander Selkirk?
2. What was Alexander Selkirk accused of doing?
3. 
Q7:
1. At what age did Daniel Defoe begin earning income by writing?
2. How old was Daniel Defoe when he first started to earn a living with his writing?
3. 
Q8:
1. What political party did Daniel Defoe support?
2. Which political party had the backing of Daniel Defoe?
3. 
Q9:
1. Was Daniel Defoe considered a man with morals?
2. Did people see Daniel Defoe as a very prinicipled man?
3. 
Q10:
1. What did Daniel Defoe do three times a week?
2. What did Daniel Defoe complete three times each week?
3. 
Q11:
1. At what age did Daniel Defoe author Robinson Crusoe?
2. What was Daniel Defoe's age when he wrote Robinson Crusoe?
3. 
Q12:
1. What was the year when Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe?
2. In what year did Daniel Defoe pen Robinson Crusoe?
3. 
