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genre "robinsonade"

From: thomas mccormick <tom_amity~at~hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 08 Jul 2005 07:19:33 +0000
To: jvf~at~Gilead.org.il

Arguments over whether Verne was "a science fiction writer" will continue
until doomsday. It is more interesting to explore his work in terms of the
genres in which he wrote which were recognized genres during his lifetime.

At least no one will argue against the statement that he wrote in the genre
known as the "robinsonade": the story of the castaway(s) who use his/their
ingenuity to create a good life on an inhospitable desert island, aided by a
friendly Providence. Verne's Mysterious Island is symuntaneously an example
and a kind of critique of the genre.

The name of the genre, of course, derives from Robinson Crusoe. Its use in
The Swiss Family Robinson (also in Verne's own Uncle Robinson, a kind of dry
run for Mysterious Island, and his rather satirical piece The School for
Robinsons) illustrates that it had become a sort of tradition for the author
to use the name "Robinson" in the story when writing in that genre.

In Defoe's novel, the first mention of the hero's given name Robinson is
accompanied by an explanation that it was bestowed on him because it was his
mother's maiden name, her folks being "a good family from York". QUESTION:
Does this name, which got attached to a whole genre and was customarily used
at least once in most examples of that genre, have any particular symbolic
meaning or association which would have been apparent to the original
late-19th century readers, and lost to us nowadays?

Tom McCormick

>From: "christopher_leather" <christopher_leather~at~yahoo.co.uk>
>Reply-To: Jules Verne Forum <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
>To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>
>Subject: Re: jvf : works of alexandre dumas
>Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2005 16:22:21 +0100
>
>Hi, Many thanks for your prompt answers. Will have a look at the website.
>Best wishes, Chris.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Garmt de Vries
> To: Jules Verne Forum
> Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2005 9:20 PM
> Subject: Re: jvf : works of alexandre dumas
>
>
> Hi Chris,
>
> > I know that my question isn't really in connection with Jules Verne,
>but
> > I was wondering on the off-chance if any of the members of the forum
> > could let me have a list of the works of Alexandre Dumas, or point me
>in
> > the direction of a relevant website. I have tried looking already on
> > the internet and have found that it is very inconsistent and some of
>the
> > titles are given in French.
>
> My favourite resource for Dumasian bibliography is
> http://www.cadytech.com/dumas/
>
> Not sure if it's exhaustive, but it gives a lot of information,
>including
> which novels are sequels of each other.
>
> Good luck!
> Garmt.
>
Received on Fri 08 Jul 2005 - 10:19:43 IDT

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