Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress (Oxford World's Classics) [Paperback]

Daniel Defoe (Author), John Mullan (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 19, 1998 | Series: Oxford World's Classics

Roxana (1724), Defoe's last and darkest novel, is the autobiography of a woman who has traded her virtue, at first for survival, and then for fame and fortune. Its narrator tells the story of her own 'wicked' life as the mistress of rich and powerful men. A resourceful adventuress, she is also an unforgiving analyst of her own susceptibilities, who tells us of the price she pays for her successes. Endowed with many seductive skills, she is herself seduced: by money, by dreams of rank, and by the illusion that she can escape her own past. Unlike Defoe's other penitent anti-heroes, however, she fails to triumph over these weaknesses. The novel's drama lies not only in the heroine's 'vast variety of fortunes', but in her attempts to understand the sometimes bitter lessons of her life as a 'Fortunate Mistress'. Defoe's achievement was to invent, in 'Roxana', a gripping story-teller as well as a gripping story. This edition uses the rare first edition text, with a new introduction, detailed notes, textual history, and a map.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Roxana is possibly Defoe's most fascinating story-teller and this, one of his most intriguing stories."--The Daily Telegraph

"Excellent introduction by John Mullan; wisely selected bibliography; full notes."--Robert C. Steensma, University of Utah

"The World's Classics edition of 'Roxana' is an attractive volume with a nice picture on the cover, and it seems to have been well edited by John Mullan. I especially like the map of Defoe's London. Unfortunately, I find 'Roxana' far less interesting that 'Robinson Crusoe' and 'Moll Flanders'.--Peter Wirth, University of Mississippi

"Excellent introduction by John Mullan."--Mary Paynter, Edgewood College

"The text seems beautifully done - striking cover, easy-to-read structure, and helpful intro and scholarship."--W.H. Reames, Jr., Erskine College

"A beautiful edition, a helpful introduction."--Archibald G. Coolidge, Jr., University of Iowa

"This is an excellent series and one of the best available editions of Defoe's last work. The introduction is extensive and helpful, a great teaching aid. Thank you for keeping this neglected classic available for us."--Carl Kremer, William Woods University

"Excellent notes and introductions - more useful in the classroom than any other paperback edition."--Allen Michie, Coastal Carolina University

From the Back Cover

Almost three hundred years after its first publication, Roxana continues to challenge readers, who, though compelled by Roxana's story, are often baffled by her complex relationships to her children, her fortune, and her vices. As one of Daniel Defoe's four major fictions, Roxana has long been understood as central to the history of the novel, and provides readers with Defoe's sharpest and most specific commentary on the complexities of life in seventeenth-century London. This edition offers a range of contemporary documents that will help readers understand the struggles of Roxana's life as series of metaphoric engagements with pressing issues of her time. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (November 19, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192834592
• ISBN-13: 978-0192834591
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #752,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unforgettable, January 15, 2006

By 

krebsman (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Roxana, Or The Fortunate Mistress (Penguin English Library) (Paperback)

ROXANA is a fascinating book. Too often the title character is measured against Moll Flanders and is found inferior. Yes, she shares several of Moll's traits, including beauty, ambition and a lack of hesitation to use sex to exploit a situation to her advantage. But Roxana is a far more complex character. Whereas Moll started poor, Roxana suffers a calamity from which she must recover. It is through this experience that she develops into the con-artist that she becomes. But what truly sets her apart from all of Defoe's other characters is that she is capable of guilt. She is more psychologically developed in other ways, too. Notice all the complex emotions when she engineers a menage-a-trois with a gentleman and her maid, Amy. Defoe was "pushing the envelope" with ROXANA. Wherein MOLL FLANDERS is a comedy, ROXANA is a primitive thriller. It's a pity Alfred Hitchcock never adapted ROXANA for the screen because there are several very unsettling and suspenseful scenes in the novel as ROXANA's true identity is in danger of being revealed. And the ending is truly unsettling. I don't know why Hollywood hasn't discovered this one (although considering all the terrible film versions of MOLL FLANDERS, perhaps it's just as well).

The form of the novel was new when ROXANA was written. There were no rules. There were no precedents. Defoe came up with something truly extraordinary. There's nothing else quite like it. For me, ROXANA is unforgettable. I first read this book twenty years ago and there are scenes that still haunt me. If you've read ROBINSON CRUSOE and MOLL FLANDERS, by all means read ROXANA, too. You'll be amazed at how avant-garde ROXANA seems in comparison. Of the six of Defoe's major works that I have read, this is one of my favorites. It's not as tidy as CRUSOE and MOLL, but it has more of a plot and covers a broader range of emotions.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Psychological Study, November 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Roxana, Or The Fortunate Mistress (Penguin English Library) (Paperback)

This novel follows the progress of a woman who is left by her husband with only her servant. She vows never to be poor again, and climbs her way back up the social ladder by using men and her body. The novel, while possibly intended as a conduct book to show women what happens to those who sin, reads today as a portrait of a woman trapped between society's views and her own upward movement. A very interesting, and at times disturbing, read.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Defoe fan, February 21, 2002

By 

Stephen Ward (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roxana, or the Fortunate Mistress (Paperback)

I read "Robinson Crusoe" as a young boy, and never forgot it (55 years later); then, as a mature adult I read "A Journal of the Plague Year" and "Moll Flanders", both of which were execellent reads; and a few days ago I finished "Roxana", so let me share a few thoughts about the book.
First off, when you read Defoe, it is essential to realize that you are dipping into the very beginnings of English literature. Anything that is three centuries removed from the present has to be put into its historical context in order to make sense of it, and contemporary values must be held in abeyance. If you are capable of doing that, you are in for a heck of a good story, as are all of the books mentioned above.
"Roxana" concerns the rise and fall (mostly rise) of a woman left destitute, along with her five children, by her fool of a husband. Circumstances eventually lead her to prostitution as a means of survival, and as luck would have it, her "gentlemen protectors" are uniformly wealthy, and by means of careful marshalling of her earnings Roxana becomes independently wealthy. But what she lacks is social status, which leads her to her final alliance with a Dutch merchant who knows nothing of her past.
Along the way, Roxana begets and abandons about nine offspring here and there(this being the days before birth control), and one of them, Susan, figures in the downfall of Roxana. This novel pays great attention to the psychological aspects of living a life that is generally condemned by society. Defoe shapes Roxana's psychological health around his own ethical views, and, as such, makes Roxana suffer for her choices in the long run. Thus, the novel does not end happily for its central character, an interesting fact, in that this is the only novel of Defoe's that does not end happily for the protagonist.
All told, "Roxana" is a great read. Defoe certainly reflects his ethical biases, but at the same time does a good job of objectively fleshing out charaters who forcefully express points of view that differ from his own.
For me, everything worked beautifully in the novel until the last paragraph, but that happens a lot in literature.