Since its publication in 1719 Defoe's

has been adopted into the cultural imagination of all societies in the world. Indeed, the story of Robinson's solitary survival on his desert island has achieved the status of myth. Defoe's text has not only been endlessly reprinted (one count made in the 1990s puts the figure at well over 700 editions) and translated into virtually every written language, including those no one speaks, such as Esperanto and shorthand, and its story has been edited and revised into versions for almost every age and condition of childhood from baby-books to teenage-readers. A great number and vast array of texts imitating

have also been produced over almost three centuries; so many indeed that they have come to form their own…

2575 words

Citation: O'Malley, Andrew. "Robinsonade". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 March 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1717, accessed 25 November 2024.]