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Robinsonade () is a
literary genre
A literary genre is a category of literature. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or length (especially for fiction). They generally move from more abstract, encompassing classes, which are then further sub-divided i ...
that takes its name from the 1719
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
''
Robinson Crusoe
''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...
'' by
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...
. The success of this novel spawned so many imitations that its name was used to define a genre, which is sometimes described simply as a "
desert island
A desert island, deserted island, or uninhabited island, is an island, islet or atoll that is not permanently populated by humans. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereot ...
story" or a "
castaway
A castaway is a person who is cast adrift or ashore. While the situation usually happens after a shipwreck, some people voluntarily stay behind on a deserted island, either to evade captors or the world in general. A person may also be left a ...
narrative". In a robinsonade, the protagonist is suddenly separated from civilization, usually by being shipwrecked or marooned on a secluded and uninhabited island. They must improvise the means of their survival from the limited resources at hand.
The word "robinsonade" was coined by the German writer
Johann Gottfried Schnabel
Johann Gottfried Schnabel (November 7, 1692 – ) was a German writer best known for his novel ''Insel Felsenburg''. He published his works under the pen name Gisander.
Schnabel was born in Sandersdorf near Bitterfeld, Germany. Orphaned in 1694, ...
in the Preface of his 1731 work ''
Die Insel Felsenburg'' (''The Island Stronghold''). It is often viewed as a subgenre of
survivalist fiction. Already in
Simplicius Simplicissimus
''Simplicius Simplicissimus'' (german: link=no, Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus Teutsch) is a picaresque novel of the lower Baroque style, written in 1668 by Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen and probably published the same year (althou ...
(1668) by
Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen
Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen (1621/22 – 17 August 1676) was a German author. He is best known for his 1669 picaresque novel ''Simplicius Simplicissimus'' (german: link=no, Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus) and the accompanyi ...
the shipwrecked protagonist lives alone on an island.
Themes
In the view of Irish novelist
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...
, Robinson Crusoe is a symbol of the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
: "He is the true prototype of the British colonist…" Later works would, arguably, expand on a mythology of
colonialism
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
.
Some of the common themes include:
*
Isolation (e.g. desert island, virgin planet)
* A new beginning for some of the characters
* Self reflection
* Encounters with natives or apparent natives
* Commentary on society
See also themes for subgenres below.
Utopianism
Unlike
Thomas More
Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...
's ''
Utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...
'' and romantic works which depicted nature as idyllic, ''Crusoe'' made it unforgiving and sparse. The protagonist survives by his wits and the qualities of his cultural upbringing, which also enable him to prevail in conflicts with fellow castaways or over local peoples he may encounter. However, he manages to wrest survival and even a certain amount of civilisation from the wilderness. Works that followed went both in the more utopian direction (''
Swiss Family Robinson
''The Swiss Family Robinson'' (German: ''Der Schweizerische Robinson'') is a novel by Johann David Wyss, first published in 1812, about a Swiss family of immigrants whose ship en route to Port Jackson, Australia, goes off course and is shipwreck ...
'') and the dystopian direction (''
Lord of the Flies
''Lord of the Flies'' is a 1954 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves. Themes i ...
'').
Inverted Crusoeism
The term ''inverted Crusoeism'' is coined by
J. G. Ballard
James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass med ...
. The paradigm of Robinson Crusoe has been a recurring topic in Ballard’s work. Whereas the original Robinson Crusoe became a
castaway
A castaway is a person who is cast adrift or ashore. While the situation usually happens after a shipwreck, some people voluntarily stay behind on a deserted island, either to evade captors or the world in general. A person may also be left a ...
against his own will, Ballard's protagonists often choose to maroon themselves; hence ''inverted Crusoeism'' (e.g., ''
Concrete Island
''Concrete Island'' is a novel by British writer J. G. Ballard, first published in 1974.
Plot introduction
A car accident leaves Robert Maitland, a wealthy architect in the midst of concealing his affair with a colleague, stranded in a large a ...
''). The concept provides a reason as to why people would deliberately maroon themselves on a remote island; in Ballard’s work, becoming a castaway is as much a healing and empowering process as an entrapping one, enabling people to discover a more meaningful and vital existence.
Examples
One of the best known robinsonades is ''
The Swiss Family Robinson
''The Swiss Family Robinson'' (German: ''Der Schweizerische Robinson'') is a novel by Johann David Wyss, first published in 1812, about a Swiss family of immigrants whose ship en route to Port Jackson, Australia, goes off course and is shipwreck ...
'' (1812–27) by Johann David Wyss, in which a shipwrecked clergyman, his wife, and his four sons manage not only to survive on their island but also to discover the good life. Jules Verne strands his castaways in ''Mysterious Island'' (1874) with only one match, one grain of wheat, a metal dog collar, and two watches.
Robinsonade proper
The robinsonade proper also contains the following themes:
* Progress through technology
* A storyline following the triumphs and the rebuilding of civilisation
* Economic achievement
* Unfriendliness of nature
Science fiction robinsonade
Genre SF robinsonades naturally tend to be set on uninhabited planets or satellites rather than islands. The Moon is the location of Ralph Morris's proto-SF ''The Life and Wonderful Adventures of John Daniel'' (1751), and of John W Campbell Jr's paean to human inventiveness, ''The Moon is Hell'' (1950). A classic example of an SF robinsonade which has all the elements of the robinsonade proper is
Tom Godwin
Tom Godwin (June 6, 1915 – August 31, 1980) was an American science fiction author active throughout the 1950s into the 1970s. In his career, Godwin published three novels and around thirty short stories. He is best known for his short sto ...
's
''The Survivors'', as well as
J. G. Ballard
James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass med ...
's ''
Concrete Island
''Concrete Island'' is a novel by British writer J. G. Ballard, first published in 1974.
Plot introduction
A car accident leaves Robert Maitland, a wealthy architect in the midst of concealing his affair with a colleague, stranded in a large a ...
''. A more recent example is
Andy Weir
Andrew Taylor Weir (born June 16, 1972) is an American novelist and former computer programmer. His 2011 novel '' The Martian'' was adapted into the 2015 film of the same name directed by Ridley Scott. He received the John W. Campbell Award fo ...
's 2011 ''
The Martian''. Joanna Russ'
We Who Are About To... (1977) is a radical feminist objection to the entire genre.
''Sears List of Subject Headings''
[''Sears List of Subject Headings'', 18th ed., Joseph Miller, ed. (New York: The H. W. Wilson Co., 2004)] recommends that librarians also catalog
apocalyptic fiction
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astr ...
—such as
Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr., July 20, 1933) is an American writer who has written twelve novels, two plays, five screenplays and three short stories, spanning the Western and post-apocalyptic genres. He is known for his gr ...
's popular novel ''
The Road
''The Road'' is a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. The book details the grueling journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that ha ...
'', or even
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...
's ''
Starship Troopers''—as robinsonades.
Film
''
Mr. Robinson Crusoe
''Mr. Robinson Crusoe'' is a 1932 Pre-Code American film. It is one of the few "talkie" films starring Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., in his penultimate film role; Fairbanks also produced the film and provided the story during the Great Depression. Th ...
'' is the 1932 updating of the story where
Douglas Fairbanks Sr. maroons himself on an uninhabited island for a year to win a bet.
''
Robinson Crusoe (1954 film)
''Robinson Crusoe'' ( es, Aventuras de Robinson Crusoe; also released as ''Adventures of Robinson Crusoe'') is a 1954 adventure film directed by Luis Buñuel, based on the 1719 novel of the same name by Daniel Defoe. It stars Dan O'Herlihy as C ...
'' is the 1954 adventure film directed by
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and m ...
, with
Dan O'Herlihy in the title role.
''
Robinson Crusoe on Mars'' is the 1964 story of the survivor of a space ship crash on the planet
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
.
''
Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.
''Lt. Robin Crusoe U.S.N.'' is a 1966 American comedy film released and scripted by Walt Disney,Zibart, Eve : "Today in History Disney", Emmis Books, 2006, and starring Dick Van Dyke as a U.S. Navy pilot who becomes a castaway on a tropical islan ...
'' is the 1966 comedic retelling, featuring a US Navy pilot and a
chimpanzee astronaut named Floyd.
Robinson Crusoe (1972) is the 1972 Russian film (Odessa film Studio) with
Leonid Kuravlyov
Leonid Vyacheslavovich Kuravlyov (russian: Леонид Вячеславович Куравлёв; 8 October 1936 – 30 January 2022) was a Soviet and Russian film actor. He became a People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1976.
Early life
Kuravlyov w ...
in the title role, and music by
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread a ...
.
''
Enemy Mine'' is the SF story of a human and enemy alien who crash land on a barren
planetoid
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''mino ...
and eventually cooperate to survive.
''
Cast Away
''Cast Away'' is a 2000 American survival drama film directed and produced by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, and Nick Searcy. Hanks plays a FedEx troubleshooter stranded on an uninhabited island after his plane crashes in ...
'' is the 2000 film about a
FedEx
FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...
employee (
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...
) who is the sole survivor of a plane crash and is stranded on a deserted island for four years.
''
The Martian'' is the 2015 film about a human astronaut stranded on Mars after a storm forces the rest of the crew to depart and the effort to recover him.
Comics
In 1940 Mort Weisinger created
Green Arrow
Green Arrow is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Mort Weisinger and designed by George Papp, he first appeared in ''More Fun Comics'' #73 in November 1941. His secret identity, real name is Olive ...
, a millionaire castaway turned to vigilante.
Years later,
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...
, produced a comic series, titled ''
Space Family Robinson
''Space Family Robinson'' was an original science-fiction comic-book series published by Gold Key Comics. It predates the ''Lost in Space'' television series. Both are loosely based on the 1812 novel by Johann David Wyss and similarly named movi ...
'', in the early 1960s and later producer
Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen (born Irwin O. Cohen, June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991) was an American film and television producer and director, known for his work in science fiction, then later as the "Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film gen ...
, created his own version of a similar concept, about another Space Family Robinson, known as ''
Lost in Space
''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series, created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...
'', for
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
.
The first appearance of a space-faring Robinson family (unrelated to the series' Robinsons) in comic books was
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...
's ''The Space Family Robinson'', December 1962. Space Family Robinson was published as a total of 59 issues, from 1962 to 1982. The first issue was published in December 1962. With issue #15 (January, 1966), the "Lost in Space" title was added to the cover.
The book ''Silver Age: The Second Generation of Comic Artists'' by Daniel Herman explains that when the ''Lost in Space'' TV series came out in 1965, it was obvious that it was inspired, at least in part, by the comic book, but
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
, the network airing the show, had never acquired the license from
Western Publishing
Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was a Racine, Wisconsin, firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also produced children's books and ...
. Rather than sue CBS or Irwin Allen, Western decided to reach a settlement which allowed them to use "Lost in Space" for the title of the comic book. Since CBS and Irwin Allen licensed shows to Western, Western didn't want to antagonize them. Also, the TV show title probably helped sales of the comic book.
Television
''
The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (TV series)
''The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe'' (french: Les Aventures de Robinson Crusoë) is a French- German children's television drama series made by Franco London Films (a.k.a. FLF Television Paris) and based on Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel ''Robinso ...
'' is a 1964 French-German TV series with
Robert Hoffmann
Robert Hoffmann (30 August 1939 – 4 July 2022) was an Austrian actor, best known to British audiences for his title role performance in '' The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe'' (1964).
Hoffmann was born in Salzburg. ''Crusoe'' was his screen d ...
in the title role. It was aired in 1965 in the UK with a soundtrack by
Robert Mellin
Israel Melnikoff (September 22, 1902 – July 10, 1994), known professionally as Robert Mellin, was a Russian Empire-born American composer and lyricist and music publisher. Born in Kyiv and raised in Chicago, where his first job was music plugg ...
.
The 1965 ''
Lost in Space
''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series, created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...
'' TV series is an adaptation of the novel ''
The Swiss Family Robinson
''The Swiss Family Robinson'' (German: ''Der Schweizerische Robinson'') is a novel by Johann David Wyss, first published in 1812, about a Swiss family of immigrants whose ship en route to Port Jackson, Australia, goes off course and is shipwreck ...
''. The astronaut family of Dr. John Robinson, accompanied by an Air Force pilot and a
robot
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...
, set out from an overpopulated Earth in the
spaceship ''Jupiter 2'' to visit a planet circling the star
Alpha Centauri with hopes of colonizing it. Their mission in 1997 (the official launch date of the ''Jupiter 2'' was October 16, 1997) is immediately sabotaged by Dr. Zachary Smith, who slips aboard their spaceship and reprograms the robot to destroy the ship and crew.
Smith is trapped aboard, and saves himself by prematurely reviving the crew from
suspended animation
Suspended animation is the temporary (short- or long-term) slowing or stopping of biological function so that physiological capabilities are preserved. It may be either hypometabolic or ametabolic in nature. It may be induced by either endogen ...
. They save the ship, but consequent damage leaves them lost in space. Eventually they crash on an alien world, later identified as Priplanis, where they must survive a host of adventures. Smith (whom the show's writer originally intended to kill off) remains through the series as a source of comedic cowardice and villainy, exploiting the forgiving (or forgetful) nature of the Robinsons.
Video games
Several videogames have explored this theme, placing players in hostile environments where they must work towards a specific goal or merely survive. As such, robinsonade video games can be included in the broader
survival game
Survival games are a sub-genre of action video games, which are usually set in hostile, intense, open-world environments. Players generally start with minimal equipment and are required to survive as long as possible by crafting tools, weapons, ...
genre. A few examples of this genre are the games in the ''
Stranded'' series, ''Stranded Deep,'' ''
The Forest'' and more recently
Minecraft
''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being ...
.
See also
*
Accidental travel
Accidental travel is a speculative fiction plot device in which ordinary people accidentally find themselves outside of their normal place or time, often for no apparent reason, a particular type of the “ fish-out-of-water” plot. In Russian ...
*
Edisonade "Edisonade" is a term, coined in 1993 by John Clute in his and Peter Nicholls' ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'', for fictional stories about a brilliant young inventor and his inventions, many of which would now be classified as science fic ...
*
Homage
*
Nautical fiction
Nautical fiction, frequently also naval fiction, sea fiction, naval adventure fiction or maritime fiction, is a genre of literature with a setting on or near the sea, that focuses on the human relationship to the sea and sea voyages and highligh ...
References
External links
*For historical examples, se
"Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe & the Robinsonades Digital Collection"which has an overview of the genre along with over 200 versions of ''
Robinson Crusoe
''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...
'' and historical robinsonades openly and freely online with full text and zoomable page images from the
Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature
The Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature in the Department of Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida's George A. Smathers Libraries contains more than 130,000 books and serials published in Great Britain a ...
* For literary criticism on the subject, see "Chapter 7: Unmapping Adventures: Robinsons and Robinsonades" in ''Mapping Men and Empire: A Geography of Adventure'', by Richard Phillips, published in 1997, and ''Empire Islands: Castaways, Cannibals, and Fantasies of Conquest'', by Rebecca Weaver-Hightower, University of Minnesota P, 2007, .
{{Robinson Crusoe
Literary genres
Survivalism
Robinson Crusoe
Adventure fiction
Castaways in fiction