Title Castaway tales : from Robinson Crusoe to Life of Pi / Christopher Palmer

Published Middletown, Connecticut : Wesleyan University Press, [2016]

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Description xxii, 226 pages ; 24 cm Series The Wesleyan early classics of science fiction series Wesleyan early classics of science fiction series. Contents The sea captain and the perfect mango: revision and parody in castaway narratives -- The Swiss Family Robinson to the mysterious island and beyond: vicissitudes of the Crusoe template -- Moreau and its progeny: abstraction and violence -- Successors of Moreau: madness and cannibalism -- Always another island: females and fridays -- Recent children's novels: recognizing indigeneity, facing death -- Recent science fiction novels: science reaffirmed, nature rethought -- Conclusion: Living phenomena Summary Ever since Robinson Crusoe washed ashore, the castaway story has survived and prospered, inspiring a multitude of writers of adventure fiction to imitate and adapt its mythic elements. In his brilliant critical study of this popular genre, Christopher Palmer traces the castaway tales history and changes through periods of settlement, violence, and reconciliation, and across genres and languages. Showing how subsequent authors have parodied or inverted the castaway tale, Palmer concentrates on the period following H. G. Wells s The Island of Dr. Moreau. These much darker visions are seen in later novels including William Golding s Lord of the Flies, J. G. Ballard s Concrete Island, and Iain Banks s The Wasp Factory. In these and other variations, the castaway becomes a cannibal, the castaway s island is relocated to center of London, female castaways mock the traditional masculinity of the original Crusoe, or Friday ceases to be a biddable servant. By the mid-twentieth century, the castaway tale has plunged into violence and madness, only to see it return in young adult novels such as Scott O Dell s Island of the Blue Dolphins and Terry Pratchett s Nation to the buoyancy and optimism of the original. The result is a fascinating series of revisions of violence and pessimism, but also reconciliation. -- Amazon.com Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index SUBJECT Crusoe, Robinson (Fictitious character) fast Subject Adventure stories -- History and criticism Castaways in literature. Survival in literature. Islands in literature. Shipwrecks in literature. Crusoe, Robinson (Fictitious character) Adventure stories Castaways in literature Islands in literature Shipwrecks in literature Survival in literature Englisch Roman Schiffbrüchiger Motiv Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. Form Electronic book LC no. 2015037497 ISBN 9780819576217 0819576212 9780819576576 0819576573 0819576220 9780819576224

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