Robinson Crusoe is one of the earliest English novels, and is additionally an early example of literary realism. Although one can find examples of fictional book-length prose narratives as far back as ancient times, literary historians generally agree that the first examples of the modern novel were written in the 18th century.
Defoe is associated with the birth of the novel as well as with the birth of literary realism. Breaking with the classical aspiration to represent life as it ought to be, realism is an aesthetic mode that seeks to represent life as it is—realist artists and writers do not shy away from the commonplace, the quotidian, and the mundane. The characters of realist narratives are ordinary people and their plots follow the ordinary relationships and life events of these characters. Although many elements of Robinson Crusoe are rather extraordinary, Robinson himself is a very ordinary man, and much of the novel follows him in (occasionally excruciating) detail about how he made his everyday life on the island as smooth, livable, and normal as possible. Within the broader genres of novel and literary realism, Robinson Crusoe can also be considered as belonging to the genres of spiritual biography, exemplary tale, travel writing, and adventure story.
Defoe exemplifies a keen awareness of the novelty of the genre he has chosen for the work and is also sensitive to how it may be received by readers. Related to this, the novel's preface is written by an anonymous editor who insists on the "publick" value that this story can have for the reader: "The story is told with modesty, with seriousness, and with a religious application of events to the uses to which wise men always apply them (viz.) to the instruction of others by this example."
Defoe does not only include this preface to give the story an air of verisimilitude before it starts, he also uses the trustworthy voice of the editor to justify his chosen genre. He predicts some of the criticisms that his first-person fictional narrative may receive upon publication, and asserts that reading it is not solely an idle or self-serving activity. In addition to being able to promise adventure and diversion, Defoe guarantees that the story has value for the pious reader. Very self-aware, the text adamantly strives to justify itself and its genre before the story has even begun.
