Good Title! And the “Robinsonade” Tradition

Robinson Crusoe was also translated into 110 foreign language editions before 1900. This meant exponential increase in the number of retellings that eventually became known as “Robinsonades,” a term coined just after Defoe’s death in 1731 by a German writer Johann Gottfried Shnabel. Robinsonades were actually most commonly found in Germany during the 18th and 19th centuries. Certain key elements of the “Crusoe Myth” such as storm, shipwreck, island living, and Friday can usually be found in these adapted stories.


The titles themselves are a hugely significant aspect of the changes in editions made and it would take a significant amount of time and space to expand on this subject. But some titles are particularly interesting.