"Adaptations of Robinson Crusoe in Contemporary Anglophone Fiction, Film and New Media"

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Miriam Nandi, since 3/2023
• Subject Area: European and American Literary and Cultural Studies
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 441695351

Ever since its publication in 1719, Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe has spawned innumerable adaptations in a multitude of genres, making it one of the most-adapted texts of all time. The project will look at adaptations of Robinson Crusoe in literary, filmic and digital texts of the 21st century, with special attention given to the topics of 'globalization, digitalization, and ecology' and 'identity and intersectionality'. Based on the approach of a transmedia investigation, it will examine the role and relevance of the so-called 'Robinsonade' as cultural narrative in our globalised and digitalised world. In fact, there has been a welter of new Robinsonades since 2000 in novels, feature films and TV series, video games as well as social media ‘memes’ and ‘gifs’. The project takes as its point of departure that, with the arrival of the World Wide Web, meanings of Crusoe-adaptations have undergone a profound shift, providing an antithesis to the emergence of globalised flows and networks. In order to achieve the goals of this project, four levels of analysis will be considered. Firstly, current Robinsonades will be analysed in order to trace the relevant themes and discourses, with special regard to how these texts stage processes of isolation, belonging and encounters with ‘the Other’, and what mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion are displayed. Secondly, there will be an analysis of how contemporary adaptations can be related to both Defoe’s novel and its rich history of adaptations, and in which form marked (explicit) or unmarked (implicit) references are implemented. A third level will address the validity of current models in the discipline of Adaptation Studies to the case of Robinson Crusoe (Hutcheon 2006, Schober 2013, Murray 2013), thereby contributing to the theoretical debate in that field. Finally, the project will look at how current Robinsonades dwell in their specific literary, filmic and digital formats, exploring formal, narratological and genre-specific dimensions. By considering these four intertwined levels of analysis, it will be possible to generate profound insights into the content, form and effect of present-day Robinsonades as well as their function as commentary on the zeitgeist of our globalised and increasingly digitalised age. Concerning its theoretical inventory, the project will draw extensively from four fields: the discipline of ‘Adaptation Studies’, research on adaptations of Robinson Crusoe, modes of analysis of literary, filmic and digital texts, and research on the topics of ‘globalization’ and ‘identity’. Moreover, by incorporating the methodology of Cultural Studies, especially the approaches used by Stuart Hall, Simone Murray and others, the project will also reveal how structures of power are inscribed in contemporary Robinsonades, thus relating literary, filmic and digital texts to the broader political discourse and its employment of hegemonic and ‘naturalized’ narratives of belonging.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Oliver von Knebel Doeberitz, until 3/2023 (†)