Shipwrecked Disaster and Transformation in Homer, Shakespeare, Defoe, and the Modern World

This book presents the first comparative study of notable literary shipwrecks from the past four thousand years, focusing on Homer's Odyssey, Shakespeare's The Tempest, and Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. James V. Morrison considers the historical context as well as the "triggers"...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Morrison, James V. (auth)
Format: Electronic Book Chapter
Language:English
Published: University of Michigan Press 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:DOAB: download the publication
DOAB: description of the publication
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This book presents the first comparative study of notable literary shipwrecks from the past four thousand years, focusing on Homer's Odyssey, Shakespeare's The Tempest, and Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. James V. Morrison considers the historical context as well as the "triggers" (such as the 1609 Bermuda shipwreck) that inspired some of these works, and modern responses such as novels (Golding's Lord of the Flies, Coetzee's Foe, and Gordon's First on Mars, a science fiction version of the Crusoe story), movies, television (Forbidden Planet, Cast Away, and Lost), and the poetry and plays of Caribbean poets Derek Walcott and Aimé Césaire. For survivors who are stranded on an island for some period of time, shipwrecks often present the possibility of a change in political and social status-as well as romance and even paradise. In each of the major shipwreck narratives examined, the poet or novelist links the castaways' arrival on a new shore with the possibility of a new sort of life.
ISBN:mpub.5626042
9780472119202
Access:Open Access