Island Studies Journal, 15(1), Book Reviews

Didactics and the modern robinsonade is a collection that looks at modern stories belonging to the robinsonade genre, and how they have changed the trends set by earlier works.The 'robinsonade' refers to the litany of adventure stories modelled after Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, which make use of the desert island trope to narrate the journey of the protagonist(s), and simultaneously drive home implicit or explicit messages to the reader, who is usually a child or young adult.While it is of course impossible to have read every piece of literature that can be classified as a robinsonade, in order to appreciate this collection it is important to note the common thread across these stories-the protagonist(s) being marooned on an island or islanded location, going through some sort of survival process that involves interaction with their milieu, and emerging as better versions of themselves.The traditional robinsonade integrates these elements with its Eurocentric, imperial-colonial values and advocates a specific kind of masculinity and individualism compatible with these values.The modern, 20 th -Century and later robinsonades try to make use of the same plot points but to subvert and redress the ideological tendencies of the earlier narratives.The key to contextualizing all the chapters is to understand that didactic form of the robinsonade, where the child-reader and their reception of the text is vital.Kinane's Introduction comprehensively explains the evolving views on the child-reader, and the generally-perceived importance of imparting on children the values and ideas at the core of society.As these values and the priorities of a society change, these changes are reflected in the ideas presented to the child-reader through the robinsonade which "embeds its didactic purpose within the subtle folds of narrative." (p.22) Each of the seven chapters analyses and critiques pieces from the 20 th Century or later, which have clear aims in terms of their didactics, ranging from nationalism and nationbuilding to postcolonialism and feminism.The stories analysed are widely different from each other, but linked in that their didactic purposes go contrary to those of the traditional robinsonade.Trying to reduce each chapter and the writing it deals with to one didactic aim would be unjust, as each author attempts to address various issues of ideology and narrative.In Didactics and the modern robinsonade, the island, then, is of significance as the space in which this process takes place, providing the required resources, adding crucial elements to the plotline, and an environment for the characters to interact with and within.In the traditional stories, the island is the space being conquered or colonised.Most robinsonades are based on the view of the island being a sort of laboratory for human society and ideology.In this book, Kinane argues that in more recent works, the island "serve[s] as [a] space against which dominant ideologies are contrasted and critiqued" (p.33).In Chapter One, Sinead Moriarty looks at G. Warren Payne's Three boys in Antarctica, which deconstructs the imperialist view of the island location as a space that can be controlled and exploited.Moriarty explains that the Antarctic is shown as a space that cannot be controlled by the Crusoe-figure, and introduces the threat of the Crusoe-figure being controlled by the space, creating a sort of anti-robinsonade, exposing the limitations of colonialism.

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