The Swiss Family Robinson (Signet Classics) - Softcover

Wyss, Johann D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451529618 ISBN 13: 9780451529619

Publisher: Signet, 2004

Synopsis

The classic adventure tale of a brave family who must come together to survive in their new deserted island home.

Swept off course by a raging storm, a Swiss pastor, his wife, and their four young sons are shipwrecked on an uncharted tropical island. Thus begins the classic story of survival and adventure that has fired the imaginations of readers since it first appeared in 1812. With optimism and boundless enthusiasm, the Robinson family undertakes the extraordinary task of constructing a home for themselves and exploring the primitive island filled with strange and beautiful creatures and exotic fruits and plants. Rich in action and suspense, The Swiss Family Robinson is an exhilarating novel takes us to a faraway place of danger and beauty, where the courageous Robinson family embarks on a thrilling new life of adventure and discovery.

With an Introduction by J. Hillis miller
and an Afterword by Elizabeth Janeway 

About this title

From the Publisher

"For many days we had been tempest-tossed . . .the raging storm increased in fury on the seventh day all hope was lost." From these dire opening lines, a delightful story of adventure begins. One family will emerge alive from this terrible storm: the Robinson's -- a Swiss pastor, his wife, and four sons, plus two dogs and a shipload of livestock, hens, pigeons and geese! Inspired by Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Cruesoe," this heartwarming tale portrays a family's struggle to create a new life for themselves on a strange and fantastic tropical island. There each boy must learn to control his own nature -- such as Ernest's bookishness and Fritz's hot temper -- as their adventures lead to amazing discoveries, danger, and tantalizing surprises, including a puzzling message tied to an albatross's leg. But it is the authenticity of the boys' behavior, the ingenuity of the family, and the natural wonders of this exotic land that have made The Swiss Family Robinson, first published in 1812-1813, one of the world's best-loved and most enduring stories of shipwreck and survival.

About the Author

Johann David Wyss (1743–1818) was an army chaplain with four sons; it was to entertain them that he wrote The Swiss Family Robinson. His son Johan Rudolf prepared the manuscript for publication in Zurich in 1812–13. The first English edition was translated by William Godwin in 1814.

J. Hillis Miller taught for many years at Johns Hopkins University and then at Yale University, before going to the University of California at Irvine in 1986, where he is now a UCI Distinguished Research Professor. He is the author of many books and essays on nineteenth- and twentieth-century English, European, and American literature and on literary theory. His books include Others, Speech Acts in Literature, and On Literature, the last of which includes a section on The Swiss Family Robinson.

Literary critic and feminist thinker Elizabeth Janeway is the author of six novels and many works of nonfiction, including Improper Behavior, Powers of the Weak, and Between Myth and Morning.

Edition details

• Publisher: Signet
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0451529618
• ISBN 13: 9780451529619
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 352