Abstract
This essay traces the didactic history of the genre of survival stories known as robinsonades and analyses the genre's evolution through the lens of play. From early adaptations to Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" to Paulsen's "Hatchet" and beyond, the child-oriented robinsonade is implicated in a century spanning pedagogical process that attempts to use the island setting as a kind of playground or classroom for independent learning. The subjects taught, however, have changed with time. I explore the robinsonade in tandem with Minecraft, a highly popular survival video game that allows children and adults alike to play out the processes modeled in the literature.
Starting with the domesticating impulse of the late 18th century robinsonades, I explore how these homemaking robinsonades eventually transform into colonial handbooks and boy's adventure stories by the height of the 19th century with works like "Masterman Ready" and "The Coral Island" representing extremes of domestication and adventure. The essay makes the case that Minecraft has come to embody many of the tropes and ideas of the imperial robinsonade.
In the second part of the thesis, the analysis move on to the 20th century with "Lord of the Flies," a novel that criticizes the imperial robinsonade and lays the groundwork for a more environmentally oriented survival narrative. I conclude with more contemporary works, including a 2017 robinsonade by Max Brooks set in Minecraft itself that prizes individual development and environmental stewardship in its didacticism. The essay culminates in a break down of a community version of Minecraft known as Better Than Wolves by Flowerchild in order to provide a model for gameplay that at once provides an escape from tropes of colonial domination and a sweeping vision of the perils of an indulgent imperial mindset. It creates a game space in which the player's decisions create significant, lasting change in the environment that surrounds them.