By : Johann David Wyss (1743-1818)
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Written by Swiss pastor Johann David Wyss, edited by his son Johann Rudolf Wyss and illustrated by another son, Johann Emmanuel Wyss, the novel was intended to teach his four sons about family values, good husbandry, the uses of the natural world and self-reliance. Wyss' attitude toward education is in line with the teachings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and many episodes involve Christian-oriented moral lessons such as frugality, husbandry, acceptance and cooperation.
Wyss presents adventures as lessons in natural history and physical sciences. This resembles other educational books for children published about the same time. These include Charlotte Turner Smith's Rural Walks: in Dialogues intended for the use of Young Persons (1795), Rambles Further: A continuation of Rural Walks (1796), A Natural History of Birds, intended chiefly for young persons (1807). But Wyss' novel is also modeled after Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, an adventure story about a shipwrecked sailor first published in 1719 and the source of the "Robinson" in the title "Swiss Family Robinson".
The book presents a geographically impossible array of large mammals (including antelopes, brown bears, capybaras, cheetahs, dingos, elephants, giraffes, hippos, hyenas, jackals, kangaroos, koalas, leopards, lions, monkeys, moose, muskrat, mustangs, onagers, pangolins, peccaries, platypuses, porcupines, rhinos, tapirs, tigers, walruses, wild boars, wolves, wombats, and zebras), birds (including black swans, blue jays, bustards, ducks, eagles, falcons, flamingos, grosbeaks, herons, ostriches, parakeets, parrots, peafowls, penguins, pigeons, and snipes), and plants (including the bamboos, cassavas, cinnamon trees, coconut palm trees, fir trees, flax, Myrica cerifera, rice, rubber plant, potatoes, sago palms, and an entirely fictitious kind of sugarcane) that probably could never have existed together on a single island for the children's education, nourishment, clothing and convenience.
Over the years there have been many versions of the story with episodes added, changed, or deleted. Perhaps the best-known English version is by William H. G. Kingston, first published in 1879. It is based on Isabelle de Montolieu's 1813 French adaptation and 1824 continuation (from chapter 37) Le Robinson suisse, ou, Journal d'un père de famille, naufragé avec ses enfants in which were added further adventures of Fritz, Franz, Ernest, and Jack. Other English editions that claim to include the whole of the Wyss-Montolieu narrative are by W. H. Davenport Adams (1869–1910) and Mrs H. B. Paull (1879). As Carpenter and Prichard write in The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature (Oxford, 1995), "with all the expansions and contractions over the past two centuries (this includes a long history of abridgments, condensations, Christianizing, and Disney products), Wyss's original narrative has long since been obscured." The closest English translation to the original is William Godwin's 1816 translation, reprinted by Penguin Classics.
Although movie and television adaptations typically name the family "Robinson", it is not a Swiss name. The German title translates as The Swiss Robinson which identifies the novel as part of the Robinsonade genre, rather than a story about a family named Robinson.
Plot:
The novel opens with the family in the hold of a sailing ship, weathering a great storm. The ships' passengers evacuate without them, and William and Elizabeth and their four children (Fritz, Ernest, Jack and Francis) are left to survive alone. As the ship tosses about, the father - William - prays that God will spare them.
The ship survives the night and the family finds themselves within sight of a tropical desert island. The next morning, they decide to get to the island they can see beyond the reef. With much effort, they construct a vessel out of tubs. After they fill the tubs with food and ammunition and all other articles of value they can safely carry, they row toward the island. Two dogs from the ship named Turk and Flora swim beside them. The ship's cargo of livestock (including chickens, domestic ducks, domestic geese, and domestic pigeons), guns & powder, carpentry tools, books, a disassembled pinnace, and provisions have survived.
Upon reaching the island, the family set up a makeshift camp. The father knows that they must prepare for a long time on the island and his thoughts are as much on provisions for the future as for their immediate wants. William and his oldest son Fritz spend the next day exploring the island.
The family spends the next few days securing themselves against hunger. William and Fritz make several trips to the ship in their efforts to bring ashore everything useful from the vessel. The domesticated animals on the ship are towed back to the island. There is also a great store of firearms and ammunition, hammocks for sleeping, carpenter’s tools, lumber, cooking utensils, silverware, and dishes. Initially they construct a treehouse, but as time passes (and after Elizabeth is injured climbing the stairs down from it), they settle in a more permanent dwelling in part of a cave. Fritz rescues a young Englishwoman (Jenny Montrose) shipwrecked elsewhere on their island.
The book covers more than ten years. The father and older boys explore various environments and develop homes and gardens in various sites about the island. At the end, the father wonders if they will ever again see the rest of humanity. Eventually a British ship who is in search of Jenny Montrose anchors near the island and is discovered by the family. The captain is given the journal containing the story of their life on the island which is eventually published. Several members of the family choose to continue to live tranquilly on their island while several of them return to Europe with the British ship.
Characters:
William – The father. He is the narrator of the story and leads the family. He knows an enormous amount of information on almost everything the family comes across, demonstrating bravery and self-reliance.
Elizabeth – The mother. She is intelligent and resourceful, arming herself even before leaving the ship with a "magic bag" filled with supplies, including sewing materials and seeds for food crops. She is also a remarkably versatile cook, taking on anything from Porcupine Soup to Roast Penguin.
Fritz – The oldest of the four boys, he is 15. Fritz is intelligent but impetuous. He is the strongest and accompanies his father on many quests.
Ernest – The second oldest of the boys, he is 13. Ernest is the most intelligent, but a less physically active boy, often described by his father as "indolent". Like Fritz however, he comes to be an excellent shot.
Jack – The third oldest of the boys, 11 years old. He is thoughtless, bold, vivacious, and the quickest of the group.
Franz (sometimes translated as Francis) – The youngest of the boys, he is 8 years old when the story opens. He usually stays home with his mother.
Turk - The family's English dog.
Juno - The family's Danish dog.
Emily Montrose (called Jenny in Montolieu's version) – An English girl found on Smoking Rock near the end of the novel. She is shy, but soon is adopted into the family. She is not a character in the original German, but was invented by Isabelle de Montolieu.
Nip (also called Knips or Nips in some editions) – An orphan monkey adopted by the family after their dogs Turk and Juno have killed his mother. The family use him to test for poisonous fruits.
Fangs – A jackal that was tamed by the family.
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