Robinsonade

Common themes

Common themes of Robinsonade works include the protagonists being in a state of isolation (e.g. on a desert island or an uninhabited planet), a new beginning for the work's characters, self-reflection as a plot point, contact with indigenous peoples or extraterrestrial life and social commentary.

Inverted Crusoeism

The term inverted Crusoeism was coined by English writer J. G. Ballard. The paradigm of Robinson Crusoe has been a recurring topic in Ballard's work. Whereas the original Robinson Crusoe became a castaway against his own will, Ballard's protagonists often choose to maroon themselves; hence inverted Crusoeism (e.g., Concrete Island). 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

Predating ''Robinson Crusoe''

Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen's 1668 picaresque novel Simplicius Simplicissimus features a shipwrecked protagonist who lives alone on an island.

19th century

One of the best known robinsonades is The Swiss Family Robinson (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.

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's The Survivors, as well as J. G. Ballard's Concrete Island. A more recent example is Andy Weir'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 recommends that librarians also catalog apocalyptic fiction —such as Cormac McCarthy's popular novel The Road, or even Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers—as robinsonades.

Robinsonade in other media

People stranded on a desert island is a common trope in other genres as well.

• Ryuzan Aki drew over 1,000 desert island manga.
• Are You Lost? (manga)
• The Admirable Crichton (play)
• Gilligan's Island (TV series)
• Lost (TV series)
• Cast Away (film)
• Desert island joke
• Kensuke's Kingdom (film)

References

References

1. ''Steampunk'' anthology, 2008, ed. [[Ann VanderMeer]] & [[Jeff VanderMeer]], {{ISBN. 978-1-892391-75-9
2. ''Empire Islands: Castaways, Cannibals, And Fantasies of Conquest'', by Rebecca Weaver-Hightower, University of Minnesota Press, 2007, {{ISBN. 978-0816648634.
3. {{In lang. de ''[[Palisades Island. Insel Felsenburg]]'', 1731, [[Johann Gottfried Schnabel]]
4. Richetti, John (ed.) ''The Cambridge Companion to Daniel Defoe''. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009) {{ISBN. 978-0521675055
5. Sellars, Simon. (2012). ""Zones of Transition": Micronationalism in the Work of J.G. Ballard". Palgrave Macmillan.
6. "SFE: Morris, Ralph".
7. "Themes : Robinsonade : SFE : Science Fiction Encyclopedia".
8. "Themes : Robinsonade : SFE : Science Fiction Encyclopedia".
9. ''Sears List of Subject Headings'', 18th ed., Joseph Miller, ed. (New York: The H. W. Wilson Co., 2004)
10. 『おーいたすけてくれ part 4―秋竜山の無人島まんが1000展』旺文社、1981年。{{ISBN. 978-4010641453