| The Swiss Family Robinson | |
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Illustration for an English edition by Harry Rountree (1907) |
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| Author(s) | Johann David Wyss |
| Original title | Der Schweizerische Robinson |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Language | German |
| Genre(s) | Adventure novel |
| Publisher | Johann Rudolph Wyss (the author's son) |
| Publication date | 1812 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
The Swiss Family Robinson (German: Der Schweizerische Robinson) is a novel, first published in 1812, about a Swiss family shipwrecked in the East Indies en route to Port Jackson, Australia.
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Written by Swiss pastor Johann David Wyss and edited by his son Johann Rudolf 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's attitude toward education is in line with the teachings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and many of the episodes have to do with Christian-oriented moral lessons such as frugality, husbandry, acceptance, cooperation, etc.[1] The adventures are presented as a series of lessons in natural history and the physical sciences, and resemble other, similar educational books for children in this period, such as 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 the novel differs in that it is modeled on Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, a genuine adventure story,[1] and presents a geographically impossible array of mammals (including pangolins, porcupines, capybaras, camels, monkeys, lions, leopards, tigers, bears, onagers, peccaries, wild boars, tapirs, mustangs, kangaroos, elephants, hyenas, wolves, giraffes, jackals, walruses, platypuses, koalas, wombats, dingos, zebras, bison, rhinos, hippos, and moose) and flora that probably could never have existed together (including the rubber plant, flax, coconut palms, sago palms, fir trees, cinnamon trees, Myrica cerifera, cassava, potatoes, rice, and an entirely fictitious kind of sugar cane) on a single island for the children's edification, 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.[1] 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 enfans in which were added further adventures of Fritz, Franz, Ernest, and Jack.[1] 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."[1] The closest English translation to the original is William Godwin's 1816 translation, reprinted by Penguin Classics.[2]
Although movie and TV adaptations typically name the family "Robinson", it is not a Swiss name; the "Robinson" of the title refers to Robinson Crusoe. The German name translates as the Swiss Robinson, and identifies the novel as belonging to the Robinsonade genre, rather than as a story about a family named Robinson.
Book sequels
The novels in one form or another have also been adapted numerous times, sometimes changing locale and/or time period:
Film versions
Television series
Made for TV movies
Comic book series
Computer adventure game
In 1984, Tom Snyder Productions created a game for the Apple II and Commodore 64, published under the Windham Classics label. The player takes the role of Fritz, the eldest brother.