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This completes my detoxification of Robinson Crusoe. Foe is Coetzee’s elegant, imaginative examination of Defoe’s classic. Its not a retelling or a sequel - it recreates a new dish from the same ingredients. Crusoe (Cruso here) dies early on & Coetzee introduces a woman character as the lead and Defoe himself (under his ‘real� name, Foe). The cleverest conceit of all is that Friday’s role is greatly expanded, but as in the original, he remains completely mute. Coetzee makes this muteness speak volumes. Post-modern and post-colonial, Foe is also a meditation on story-telling and the life (as opposed to the death, cf Barthes) of the author.