Friday

by Michel Tournier, Norman Denny (Translator)

Overview

A provocative retelling of Robinson Crusoe, this classic of twentieth-century French literature depicts the explorer's struggle to tame nature and the transformative power of his relationship with the indigenous character, Friday.

One of the most commonly assigned books in French high schools, Friday mines the philosophical underpinnings of Defoe's original story, exploring concepts of imperialism, world-building, and existentialism.

“What was Friday to Daniel Defoe? Nothing: an animal, at best a creature waiting to receive his humanity from Robinson Crusoe, who as a European was in sole possession of all knowledge and wisdom.” A stunning postcolonial retelling of Defoe’s myth, Michel Tournier's Friday subverts expectations at every turn. Cast away on a tropical island, Tournier’s God-fearing Crusoe sets out to tame it, to remake it in the image of the civilization he has left behind. Alone and against all odds, he almost succeeds. Then Friday appears, and Crusoe is immediately infuriated by his mannerisms, by his “irrepressible, lyrical, and blasphemous” laugh, and most of all, by his natural intimacy with the island. Crusoe is certain that he has nothing to learn from Friday about how to live in nature. But after an accident destroys all of Crusoe’s hard work, it is up to Friday to teach him just how ignorant he is.

Winner of the 1967 Grand Prix du Roman of the Académie Française, Friday transforms one of the canonical texts of western literature into a tale of initiation, and affirms both the abundance of the natural world and the abiding presence of the marvellous and mysterious.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681379814
Publisher:	New York Review Books
Publication date:	12/02/2025
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Michel Tournier (1924–2016) was a French writer best known for his novelistic reimaginations of folklore and mythology. His books include Friday, The Ogre, which won the Prix Goncourt in 1970, Gemini, and The Four Wise Men.

Norman Denny (1901-1982) was an English writer and translator. He is best known for his translations of French literature into English, in particular his translation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.

What People are Saying About This

Richard Howard

Friday is the latest and one of the best examples of the French genius for revisionism—for ringing original variations on a traditional theme. It is also unique in that enterprise because it is so moving, so touching in its elegance, so simple in its art.

From the Publisher

Friday is the latest and one of the best examples of the French genius for revisionism—for ringing original variations on a traditional theme. It is also unique in that enterprise because it is so moving, so touching in its elegance, so simple in its art.
—Richard Howard

Editorial Reviews

A fascinating, unusual novel . . . a remarkably heady French wine in the old English bottle . . . Tournier has attempted nothing less than an exploration of the soul of modern man.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Like [Crusoe’s island], Tournier’s novel is unique, self-sufficient, imaginative, well worth exploring, and with a number of minor miracles to reveal.” —Time

“Friday is the latest and one of the best examples of the French genius for revisionism—for ringing original variations on a traditional theme. It is also unique in that enterprise because it is so moving, so touching in its elegance, so simple in its art.” —Richard Howard

“Defoe’s book is distinguished by an unawareness of the psychology of solitude; nothing happens. Michel Tournier, however has placed his man in precisely the same situation of static impotence, and then proceeds to illustrate a personal development as passionate and variegated as anyone could wish.” —New Statesman

“M. Tournier is a cultivated and disciplined writer, and his Robinson, the son of a Yorkshire draper, is most likable . . . The castaway has that quaint and peculiarly English stolidity that seems to exist only in the imagination of the French.” —The New Yorker

From the Publisher

Like [Crusoe's island], Tournier's novel is unique, self-sufficient, imaginative, well worth exploring, and with a number of minor miracles to reveal.

Time

A fascinating, unusual novel . . . a remarkably heady French wine in the old English bottle . . . Tournier has attempted nothing less than an exploration of the soul of modern man.

New York Times Book Review

M. Tournier is a cultivated and disciplined writer, and his Robinson, the son of a Yorkshire draper, is most likable . . . [T]he castaway has that quaint and peculiarly English stolidity that seems to exist only in the imagination of the French.

New Yorker

Defoe's book is distinguished by an unawareness of the psychology of solitude; nothing happens. Michel Tournier, however, has placed his man in precisely the same situation of static impotence, and then proceeds to illustrate a personal development as passionate and variegated as anyone could wish.

New Statesman

"M. Tournier is a cultivated and disciplined writer, and his Robinson, the son of a Yorkshire draper, is most likable... [T]he castaway has that quaint and peculiarly English stolidity that seems to exist only in the imagination of the French."

New Yorker

"Like [Crusoe's island], Tournier's novel is unique, self-sufficient, imaginative, well worth exploring, and with a number of minor miracles to reveal."

Time