With 'Robinson Crusoe', Defoe became the author of one of the earliest English novels and created one of the most famous and resonant myths in literature. This gripping adventure story begins as Crusoe leaves the English coast for Africa and finds himself the sole survivor of a shipwreck. On the desert island he comes across another human footprint on the shore, encounters cannibals, and befriends a native he calls Friday. Crusoe's story is also an account of one man's physical survival and his psychological and spiritual development in an alienating and dangerous solitude.