Dette er en bok jeg alltid har tenkt at jeg har lest, men jeg hadde jo ikke det. Ikke egentlig. Kortversjonene jeg leste som barn var ganske annerledes enn originalversjonen jeg har lest nå. Den har litt langdrøye passasjer, og jeg forstår hvorfor det finnes forkortede versjoner, men den er verd å få med seg.
Jeg koser meg ikke like mye som da jeg leste Moll Flanders, men livet på en øde øy, og frykten man må leve med da, gir mange interessante tanker. Her er to sitater jeg merket meg:
Upon the whole, here was an undoubted testimony that there were scarce any condition in the world so miserable, but there was something negative or something positive to be thankful for in it.
All these things tended to show me more and more how far my condition was from being miserable, compared to some others, nay, to many other particulars of life which it might have been pleasing to God to have made my lot. It put me upon reflecting how little repining there would bee among mankind at any condition of life, if people would rather compare their condition with those that were worse, in order to be thankful, than be always comparing them with those which are better, to assist their murmurings and complaining.
Det føltes som å finne en skatt da jeg kom til et sitat om frykten Robinson følte, i flere år, for at kannibaler skulle komme til øya. Kan en viss Franklin D. Roosevelt (det vil si taleskriveren hans) ha lest det før han skrev The only thing we have to fear is fear itself?
Yet, all this while I lived uncomfortably, by reason of the constant apprehensions of them coming upon me by surprise; from whence I observe, that the expectation of evil is more bitter than the suffering, especially if there is no room to shake off that expectation, or those apprehensions.