Robinsonade


Robinsonade is a literary genre of fiction wherein a person or a group of persons is suddenly separated from civilization, usually by being shipwrecked or marooned on a secluded and uninhabited island, and must improvise the means of their survival from the limited resources at hand. The genre takes its name from the 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. 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 story" or a "castaway narrative".
The word "robinsonade" was coined by the German writer Johann Gottfried Schnabel in the Preface of his 1731 novel Palisades Island. It is often viewed as a subgenre of survivalist fiction.

Common themes

Common themes of Robinsonade works include the protagonists being in a state of isolation, 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. 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 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 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, and of John W Campbell Jr's paean to human inventiveness, The Moon is Hell. 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... 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.