230367 Every Man is an Island: Robinsonades in Literary and Cultural History (S) (SoSe 2019)

Few works of fiction have been as influential as Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719). The story of a man cast away on an uninhabited island immediately captured the imagination of artists and audiences alike. Since its publication the tale has been copied, imitated, and adapted in vast numbers to other genres and media. Key features of Defoe's novel appear in so many texts that scholars speak about a genre of its own: the robinsonade.
This class is going to introduce students to key aspects of this genre from the point of view of both literary and cultural studies. The course will investigate the genres foundational text, Robinson Crusoe (1719) and trace some of its most important adaptations in fiction and film. Though robinsonades have appeared in countries and languages around the globe, we will focus on British and American literarture and film in this class.

Bibliography

As the course is a block seminar most of the reading has to be done prior to the course.
This includes

Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1719) (unabridged version!)
William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" (1954)

Students have to acquire a copy of both novels and read it before the beginning of the block seminar. Students who have not read/re-read the novels prior to the first session will not be able to join the course!