la robinsonnade

I love it when things click. You may remember that when I was opening my French bank account, I learned of the French expression faire le robinson, meaning to set off on an adventure. Last week, while visiting La Maison Jules Verne in Amiens, I stumbled upon a display case dedicated to just that. Apparently, I have been living in complete literary ignorance, because la robinsonnade (or robinsonade in English) is a genre. It totally makes sense now! The Swiss Family Robinson isn't about a family from Switzerland who shares my last name...it's about a family ON a robinson. I always thought that Robinson didn't sound like a very Swiss name. In fact, I'd even considered that they were a family of Irish origin who had emigrated to Switzerland. Maybe it would have been clear to me ages ago if I'd ever bothered to read the book, but alas, robinsonades have never been of much interest to me. At the museum, I learned that Jules Verne, adopted son of Amiens, was influenced by Defoe's Crusoe, and wrote quite a few robinsonnades himself. Dare I admit to my Amiénois friends that I've never cracked the spine of a book by their beloved Verne?

During my museum epiphany, I made a mental note to do some research. The robinsonade is named for Defoe's hugely successful Robinson Crusoe. The success inspired so many imitations that it became the definition of a genre, which is sometimes described simply as a "desert island story". Side note: to set a good example for my students, I must cite my source, although my source itself isn't a good example. According to Wikipedia (*gasp*), the word "robinsonade" was coined by the German writer John Gottfried Schabel in the preface of his work Die Insel Felsenburg (1731). "In the archetypical robinsonade, the protagonist is suddenly isolated from the comforts of civilization, usually shipwrecked or marooned on a secluded and uninhabited island. He must improvise the means of his survival from the limited resources at hand. Unlike Thomas More's Utopia 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."

Well, I may not be on an island, but where I'm living could be described as somewhat secluded, and sometimes I am isolated from the comforts of civilization (see previous entries on phone and plumbing issues). I definitely have to survive by my wits from time to time, and am learning to prevail in conflicts with local peoples I may encounter. Maybe I can identify with Jules Verne and Daniel Defoe more than I thought. Perhaps I should read some of these famous works while I'm here this year, on my own robinsonnade.