Robinsonade: History and Key Facts

Robinsonade ( ROB-in-sən-AYD) 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 (German: Insel Felsenburg). It is often viewed as a subgenre of survivalist fiction.

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