Monday, June 6, 2011

What is the surname of the family in 'Swiss Family Robinson'?


Search
: swiss family robinson

Why: I'm looking at this chart on I Love Charts:
(It's based on this list.) And underneath it says:
just as the family in the swiss family robinson was not named robinson in the book, the 7 dwarfs from snow white and the 7 dwarfs also had no names until disney got involved. these now iconic dwarf aptronyms have since been translated into every language in which disney has found a market
I never read that book. But that link says:
back when i was just a small fry named i was obsessed with the desert island genre*. my nurse would read to me every night from the adventures of robinson crusoe. when i turned six and was able to pour my own milk, i began reading the swiss family robinson, and was like: “what’s with all these robinsons getting shipwrecked on fabulous islands?”

it turns out that robinson wasn’t just an oddly appropriate name for a stranded character. dafoe’s work was so popular, that it defined the genre which became known as the robinsonade.

about 100 years later, a swiss pastor wrote der schweizerische robinson which really just translates into the swiss [version of the] robinson [genre]. the family in the book is not named robinson, nor is robinson a swiss name.

Answer: They don't have a last name! These are the characters:
  • The Father: He is the narrator of the story and leads the family. He knows a great deal of information on everything from roots to hunting, demonstrating bravery and self-reliance.
  • Elizabeth: The mother in the story. She stays at home and cooks, grows, and prepares food. Her focus is the well-being of her four sons.
  • Fritz: The oldest of the four boys. Though he is not the most intelligent, he is the strongest and accompanies his father on many quests.
  • Ernest: The second oldest of the boys, Ernest is intelligent, but a less physically active boy. He adores reading and is usually found in the library lost in a book.
  • Jack: The third oldest of the boys. He is thoughtless, bold, vivacious, and the quickest of the group.
  • Franz: The youngest of the boys. He usually stays home with his mother, although he is quite capable on a buffalo.
  • Jenny: An English girl found on Smoking Rock near the end of the novel. She is shy but soon becomes adopted into the family.
  • Knips: An orphan monkey adopted by the family after their dogs killed its mother.
They sound very Swiss indeed. I superdug that genre, too.
Source: Wikipedia
Link
The More You Know: Anyway, back to the name thing. That chart reminded me of an earlier discussion about the names in Harry Potter.
Here are some of the Dutch names that sound/look nothing like the English names:

Hermione Granger - Hermelien Griffel
Albus Dumbledore - Albus Perkamentus
Neville Longbottom - Marcel Lubbermans
Luna Lovegood - Loena Leeflang
Cedric Diggory - Carlo Kannewasser
Vernon Dursley - Herman Duffeling
Minerva McGonagall - Minerva Anderling
Dolores Umbridge - Dorothea Omber

Some names are only changed slightly:

Draco Malfoy - Draco Malfidus
Sirius Black - Sirius Zwarts
Severus Snape - Severus Sneep
Ron Weasley - Ron Wemel
Why? Because Hermione, Albus, and Hagrid just aren't Dutch names. But they're not really English, either, so I dunno. I just dunno. Marcel Lubbermans.