If you ask the modern reader about what the most famous work is written in the style of a robinsonade, then after the Defoe novel itself, Jules Verne, “The Mysterious Island” will undoubtedly be called. The content of the novel is known to almost everyone and does not need additional advertising.
In fact, in modern literature, robinsonade is understood as any work where the characters are placed in conditions under which they need to rely only on their knowledge and skills for survival. This direction got its name from the work of Defoe, which 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 spawned an endless chain of sequels and imitations.
Jules Verne did not stand aside. The Mysterious Island is still an almost perfect Robinsonade. The word “almost” here is not at all accidental, since this work is not a survival tool at all, but is just an adventure novel with elements of science fiction. The fantasticness of the work lies in the fact that such an island simply cannot exist in nature, just as the achievements of the islanders in terms of scientific and technological progress cannot be carried out by four even very knowledgeable and able people.
But then he and Jules Verne. “The Mysterious Island” is written so convincingly that you begin to think about the impossibility of all these achievements 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 on a bare spot and smelting metal for it.
The author of the novel at one time generated a lot of debate about whether he is a specific person, or a group of scientists is hiding under this pseudonym. Even now it’s hard to believe that such a huge number of science fiction works was written by one person, and even in those days when there were no computers. Today it is possible to get any information simply by clicking the mouse several times, and the speed of typing on the computer is an order of magnitude higher than writing the same amount 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, there is a significant flaw in the novel, which does not make it a robinsonade in the full sense of the word. Did not fully draw this genre Jules Verne. "Mysterious island", whose heroes so quickly began life on the island, without a single match, still did not master the industrial base on their own. They threw almost everything necessary captain Nemo. However, Robinson also received the will of his author a gift of fate - a chest with items necessary for a normal existence. In the same way, Captain Nemo at a critical moment at first throws medicine for Herbert to our islanders, and then completely provides them with guns, cartridges, kitchen utensils, clothes and a camera.
The fact is that at first the novel was conceived as a separate work, and only later the author decided to make it part of the trilogy, combining it with other novels. Yes, the transitional novel between “The Children of Captain Grant” and “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” Jules Verne did not enter very well here. “Mysterious Island” would be better looked like a separate work, but nothing can be changed - everything was the will of the author.
But all this does not detract from the merits of the novel. It is interesting not only for describing the creation of certain everyday things from scratch, especially since these descriptions are often incorrect (this is indicated in the comments of the editors), but also because it praises friendship and cooperation. And also the desire of the heroes to know and be able to as much as possible.
It is difficult to say exactly how many boys and girls began to recklessly study school subjects, inspired by the erudition of Cyres Smith, Gideon Spilet and Herbert. And Jules Verne is “guilty” of this. "Mysterious island" has become a real hymn to cognition.