NCRCL/English and Creative Writing Research Talk
‘Fairchild’s Noble Savage and the Social Contract in Several Classic Crossover Robinsonades’
Dr. Ian Kinane, University of Roehampton
In this paper, I argue that the island trope in several Robinsonade narratives functions, in part, as a means of interrogating the relationship between individualism (the single, solitary Crusoe-figure who exists in isolation) and socialisation. I will examine the conflict between the individual castaway’s desires to subsist in isolation and the inevitable pull exerted by her/his obligation to the society or social model from whence she/he came. Using Fairchild’s concept of the noble savage (a watchful, reflective entity), I will explore the ways in which the child configures her/his relationship to others on the island, and the ways in which she/he carves out a metaphoric “I-land” for her/himself.

Detail from Neil Gower’s 2011 cover for William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Image via Gower.
Wednesday 30th November 2016, 1 pm
Duchesne 001, Digby Stuart, University of Roehampton
ALL WELCOME