Robinsonade

Robinsonade (/ˌrɒbɪnsəˈneɪd/ ROB-in-sən-AYD) is a literary genre of fiction wherein the protagonist 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"^[1] or a "castaway narrative".^[2]

The word "robinsonade" was coined by the German writer Johann Gottfried Schnabel in the Preface of his 1731 work Die Insel Felsenburg [de] (The Island Stronghold).^[3] It is often viewed as a subgenre of survivalist fiction.

^ Steampunk anthology, 2008, ed. Ann VanderMeer & Jeff VanderMeer, ISBN 978-1-892391-75-9
^ Empire Islands: Castaways, Cannibals, And Fantasies of Conquest, by Rebecca Weaver-Hightower, University of Minnesota Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0816648634.
^ (in German) Die Insel Felsenburg [de], 1731, Johann Gottfried Schnabel

[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 German) Die Insel Felsenburg [de], 1731, Johann Gottfried Schnabel

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