Если спросить современного читателя о том, какое the most famous work written in the style of a robinzonad, then after Defoe's novel itself, undoubtedly, Jules Verne, “The Mysterious Island” will be named. The content of the novel is known to almost everyone and does not need additional advertising.
In fact, in modern literature underRobinsonade is understood to be any work where the characters are set in conditions where they need to rely only on their knowledge and skills for survival. This direction received its name from the work of Defoe, who tells of a shipwrecked sailor named Robinson Crusoe. The popularity of this novel was so great that the name Robinson became a household name and gave rise to an endless chain of sequels and imitations.
Not left aside and Jules Verne.“The Mysterious Island” still remains almost an ideal Robinsonade. The word “almost” is not at all accidental here, since this work is not a survival tool at all, but is simply an adventure novel with elements of fiction. The fantastic nature of the work lies in the fact that such an island simply cannot be in nature, as well as the achievements of the islanders in terms of scientific and technological progress cannot be accomplished by a group of even very knowledgeable and able people.
But he is Jules Verne.“The Mysterious Island” was written so convincingly that you begin to think about the impossibility of all these accomplishments only after reading the novel. And during the process itself, you do not pay attention to the fact that only robots can organize a forge in two days in a bare place and smelt metal for it.
The author of the novel at one time spawned manydisputes about whether he is a specific person or whether a group of scientists is hidden under this pseudonym. Even now it is difficult to believe that such a huge number of science fiction works were written by one person, and even in those times when there were no computers. It is today you can get any information, just a few times by clicking the mouse, and the speed of typing on a computer is an order of magnitude higher than writing the same volume by hand. But Monsieur Verne did not have at his disposal even a ballpoint pen and was forced to write with a pen. And he did it really masterfully.
True, in the novel there is a significant drawback,which does not make him a robinzonada in the full sense of the word. Not pulled in full this genre Jules Verne. “The Mysterious Island”, whose heroes so rapidly began life on the island, not having a single match, yet did not master the industrial base on their own. He threw almost all the necessary captain Nemo. However, Robinson also received, by the will of his author, a gift of fate - a chest with items necessary for a normal existence. Similarly, at the critical moment, Captain Nemo first throws medicine for Herbert to our islanders, and then completely provides them with rifles, cartridges, kitchen utensils, clothes and a camera.
The fact is that at first the novel was conceived asa separate work, and only later the author decided to make it part of the trilogy, combining with other novels. Yes, the transitional affair between "Children of Captain Grant" and "20,000 leagues under the sea" did not fit very well here Jules Verne. “The Mysterious Island” would have looked better as a separate work, but nothing could be changed - it was the will of the author.
But all this does not detract from the merits of the novel.It is interesting not only by the description of the creation of certain ordinary things from scratch, especially since these descriptions are often incorrect (this is indicated in the editors' comments), but also because it celebrates friendship and cooperation. As well as the desire of the characters as much as possible to know and be able to.
It's hard to say exactly how many boys andgirls began to gamble at school subjects, inspired by the erudition of Sayres Smith, Gideon Spilette and Herbert. And “guilty” of this is Jules Verne. "Mysterious Island" has become a real hymn to knowledge.
