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FDU PRESS
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| Scholarly Review |
 | The Fortress of American Solitude
ISBN# 9780838642177
Reviewed by: Joseph Mayer, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
The Nautilus: A Marime Journal of Literature, History, Culture, Vol. II |
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In The Fortress of American Solitude: Robinson Crusoe and Antebellum Culture, Shawn Thomson argues that the young men of the antebellum culture in America who "grew up immersed in the objectal world of Robinson Crusoe," looking for their own adventures and islands to master, soon found "the morals and lessons that served as framework for an honest and industrious life failed to negotiate the vices of a city or the libidinous freedoms of the frontier." Thomson makes a strong case for the influence of Robinson Crusoe on nineteenth-century America and the construction of identity for young men -- its impact on the construction of female identity is discussed as well but not in as much depth. Herman Melville is central to Thomson's study, and some of the connections that he makes are worth thinking about in terms of how Melville may have used Defoe's novel to construct some of his most dynamic characters and work.
For individuals who are interested in how Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and other narratives of shipwrecks and castaways influenced antebellum American culture, Shawn Thomson's The Fortress of American Solitude is useful. More specifically, for Melville scholars, the second, third, and fourth chapters provide some interesting insight into possible readings for how Defoe's novel - and the castaway genre in general - may have influenced Melville's call to the sea and the penning of some of his most interesting characters.
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