Artur Blaim is Professor of English Literature at the University of Gdansk. He is the author of «Gazing in Useless Wonder. English Utopian Fiction 1516-1800» (2013) and «Utopian Visions and Revisions. The Uses of Ideal Worlds» (2016). He has co-edited several volumes on utopian/dystopian fiction and cinema like «Spectres of Utopia. Theory, Practice, Conventions» (2012) and «Mediated Utopias» (2015). His main research interests include utopia/dystopia in literature, film and other media, William Shakespeare, cultural semiotics, and desert island narratives.

The book is a study of the eighteenth-century English robinsonade focusing on the pre-history of the genre, the multi-level semantics of «Robinson Crusoe», its functioning as a genre model, and the subsequent process of its simplification by the gradual elimination of religious meanings and foregrounding the exciting adventures.

Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe - Robinsonades - Survival narratives - Castaway narratives - Early modern novel - Utopian fiction - Eighteenth-century English literature

The book is a study of the eighteenth-century English robinsonade, also known as desert island or castaway narrative. It discusses the pre-history of the genre, the complex multi-level semantics of «Robinson Crusoe», its role in introducing a new mode of meaning formation combining the conventions of the travel narrative, Providence book, and spiritual autobiography, as well as its functioning as a genre model for later authors. Another important subject is the subsequent process of robinsonade's simplification by the gradual elimination of religious meanings and foregrounding the exciting adventures of the protagonists, turning it into a genre of children's literature.