The Robinsons School
The Robinsons School is a novel by the French author Jules Verne . The novel was first published in 1882 by the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel under the French title L'école des Robinsons . The first German-language edition appeared in 1885 under the title Die Schule der Robinsons . A careful reworking of this edition with reproductions of the original images appeared in 1978 at Zweiausendeins as the first volume in the Haidnian Antiquities series suggested by Arno Schmidt .
action
Millionaire William W. Kolderup buys in San Francisco in a duel with his rival JR Taskinar from Stockton for the sum of 4,000,000 dollars the island of Spencer, which lies 862 km off the coast of California . Kolderup plans to marry his sixteen-year-old adopted daughter Phina Halloney to his orphaned nephew Godfrey , who also grew up with him . Before he enters into a marriage, Godfrey wants to make a longer trip around the world and experience adventures in the manner of Robinson Crusoe , since he only knows San Francisco of the world so far. Phina is ready to wait two years for Godfrey.
Out of necessity, William W. Kolderup complies with his nephew's wishes. Godfrey, accompanied by his good dance and propriety teacher Tartelett, embarks on Kolderup's steamer Dream , rigged as schooner , under the command of Captain Turcotte . Captain Turcotte steers a not very straight course across the Pacific , which in reality only takes the ship forward. A stowaway is discovered on board. The Chinese Seng Vou plans to take the ship to Shanghai . Eleven days after departure, a storm breaks out in which the schooner threatens to sink. The captain throws Godfrey overboard to save him.
Godfrey can save himself on a boulder. When the storm dies down and the sun rises, he can go to dry land. There he finds the apparently lifeless body of tartelett on the beach, which he brings back to life. Together they explore the country and discover that they are on an island that Godfrey names after his fiancée Phina . They think they see smoke from a fire on the island.
The castaways feed on bird eggs, apples and mussels. In addition, pigs, chickens, sheep and goats have come to the island from the Dream. They find shelter in a cave that is in the trunk and roots of a sequoia tree . They call the tree the Will Tree after Godfrey's uncle. Godfrey carves furniture for them. They create fire with lightning that strikes the tree and at the same time enlarges their cave so that it now extends to the top of the tree. One day Godfrey discovers a chest that has washed ashore. This contains urgently needed cooking utensils, weapons, tools and items of clothing. A ship passes the island without taking any notice of the castaways.
A short time later, cannibals land in a canoe on the island to kill and eat a dark-skinned prisoner. Godfrey and Tartelett put them to flight at the last moment and save the prisoner, a savage named Karefinotu , who strangely seems to be an African black. The savage stays with them out of gratitude. Godfrey teaches him how to use modern tools and weapons. Tartelett, on the other hand, teaches him the csárdás . Karefinotu is dancing and Tartelett is playing on his violin.
One day Godfrey shoots a bear. A short time later he has to save Karefinotu from a tiger and tartlet from a giant crocodile. When more and more predators appear later, the castaways barricade themselves in their cave. When the predators attack the settlers' pigs, chickens, sheep and goats and then penetrate their tree cavity, a fire breaks out, caused by the overturned stove. Eventually the powder supply will blow up. Godfrey and his companions take refuge in the upper branches of the tree. Suddenly Karefinotu can speak English and tells Godfrey and Tartelett of the imminent arrival of William W. Kolderup. Finally, the castaways are rescued at the last minute by William W. Kolderup, Phina and the sailors of the Dream .
Godfrey and Tartelett learn that the schooner has not sunk. The shipwreck was only arranged so that Godfrey could "play Robinson Crusoe". The originator of the "shipwreck" was Uncle Kolderup, who had staged the whole thing to drive out his nephew's nonsense and to give him the desired lesson for life. The island they are stranded on is Spencer Island, which William W. Kolderup bought. The worried Phina had given the castaways the enigmatic useful flotsam. The native Karefinotu was a dedicated actor named Jup Brass. The bear and the tiger were really just animated dummies. The pillar of smoke from the fire, which they have seen repeatedly over time, came from a campfire owned by the Chinese Seng Vou, who had also fled to the island. Only the presence of the other predators was not planned. These were delivered by the menagerie supplier Hagenbeck to William W. Kolderup's competitor Taskinar and exposed by him on the island. That was his revenge for the fact that he was subject to Kolderup's offer at the auction of the island.
background
Jules Verne was inspired by the novel Der Schweizerische Robinson by Johann David Wyss for its 1900 sequel The Second Fatherland . In addition, the unfinished novel Uncle Robinson from the period from 1869 to 1870 and The School of the Robinsons are influenced by it.
Rating
The School of the Robinsons is a hilarious adventure novel that parodies robinsonads . Karefinotu corresponds to the cliché of the naive savage who gratefully accepts the blessings of civilization. The character is a deliberate parody of Wild Friday from Robinson Crusoe . (In reality he is Kolderup's house servant and his "rescue" from the cannibals was played, as were his comical attempts to learn the language of the castaways.) Tartelett is used to the comfortable life in William W. Kolderup's palace. He finds it difficult to adapt to the hard life on the island and, with his endless complaints, is more responsible for the humorous deposits. Godfrey is a modern man who, like Robinson Crusoe, uses physical strength and imagination to get everything he needs to live.
There is no place in this work for the homesickness and self-doubt of the castaways; Jules Verne emphasizes the funny side of the matter in this rather insignificant work.
filming
1981 - Misterio en la isla de los monstruos (E, USA) (Journey to the island of horror / The secret of the monster island)
literature
- Heinrich Pleticha (ed.): Jules Verne manual . Deutscher Bücherbund / Bertelsmann, Stuttgart and Munich 1992.
- Volker Dehs and Ralf Junkerjürgen: Jules Verne . Voices and interpretations of his work. Fantastic Library Wetzlar, Wetzlar 2005.
- Volker Dehs: Jules Verne . Jules Verne. A critical biography. Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2005. ISBN 3-538-07208-6
- Heiko Postma : The triumph of the 19th century and some question marks . Epilogue to Jules Verne, The School of Robinsons & Paul Verne , From Rotterdam to Copenhagen on board the steam yacht "Saint Michel". Two thousand and one, Frankfurt am Main 1978.
Web links
- "The School of the Robinsons" as an e-book in HTML on zeno.org (digitized version of the German translation Vienna, Pest, Leipzig 1887)
- The Robinsons School in Andreas Fehrmann's Jules Verne Collection