In Search of Robinson Crusoe with Daisuke Takahashi

Public Lecture Series with Daisuke Takahashi

Three hundred years ago Daniel Defoe published a tale of perhaps the world’s most well-known castaway, Robinson Crusoe. Defoe’s famed novel is believed to be modeled after the epic story of the marooned buccaneer, Alexander Selkirk (1686–1721). Selkirk survived for more than 4 years alone on a remote Pacific island in Chile’s Jan Fernández Archipelago, now known as Isla Robinson Crusoe. Despite the popularity of Robinson Crusoe over the past three centuries, little was known about Selkirk or his story of survival until 2005 when a National Geographic team, led by Daisuke Takahashi, discovered Selkirk’s campsite and other associated artifacts on an Explorers Club Flag Expedition (Flag No. 60).

Following the successful expedition to Isla Robinson Crusoe, Takahashi shifted his focus to the volcanic island of Torishima, 518 km south of Tokyo, where a little known and forgotten 18th century castaway survived for 20 years. Now known as the Japanese Robinson Crusoe, the castaway survived by eating albatross and collecting raining water before sailing home on a boat built of driftwood and makeshift nails. The castaway of Torishima inspired Japanese authors just as Selkirk had for Defoe. Takahashi draws on decades of research and field expeditions to explore the gray area between fiction and non-fiction, and tell the stories of these real Robinson Crusoes; one from the east and one from the west.

Daisuke Takahashi is a Fellow of The Explorers Club, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in the UK, and a grantee of The National Geographic Society. His research focuses on castaways, legends, and mountain worship. Takahashi is the author of In Search of Robinson Crusoe (Cooper Square Press, 2002) and Castaway Island (in Japanese – 2015).

Time: 6:00 pm Reception, 7:00 pm Program











When: Mon., Nov. 4, 2019 at 7:00 pm
Where: The Explorers Club
46 E. 70th St.
212-628-8383
Price: $30
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Public Lecture Series with Daisuke Takahashi

Three hundred years ago Daniel Defoe published a tale of perhaps the world’s most well-known castaway, Robinson Crusoe. Defoe’s famed novel is believed to be modeled after the epic story of the marooned buccaneer, Alexander Selkirk (1686–1721). Selkirk survived for more than 4 years alone on a remote Pacific island in Chile’s Jan Fernández Archipelago, now known as Isla Robinson Crusoe. Despite the popularity of Robinson Crusoe over the past three centuries, little was known about Selkirk or his story of survival until 2005 when a National Geographic team, led by Daisuke Takahashi, discovered Selkirk’s campsite and other associated artifacts on an Explorers Club Flag Expedition (Flag No. 60).

Following the successful expedition to Isla Robinson Crusoe, Takahashi shifted his focus to the volcanic island of Torishima, 518 km south of Tokyo, where a little known and forgotten 18th century castaway survived for 20 years. Now known as the Japanese Robinson Crusoe, the castaway survived by eating albatross and collecting raining water before sailing home on a boat built of driftwood and makeshift nails. The castaway of Torishima inspired Japanese authors just as Selkirk had for Defoe. Takahashi draws on decades of research and field expeditions to explore the gray area between fiction and non-fiction, and tell the stories of these real Robinson Crusoes; one from the east and one from the west.

Daisuke Takahashi is a Fellow of The Explorers Club, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in the UK, and a grantee of The National Geographic Society. His research focuses on castaways, legends, and mountain worship. Takahashi is the author of In Search of Robinson Crusoe (Cooper Square Press, 2002) and Castaway Island (in Japanese – 2015).

Time: 6:00 pm Reception, 7:00 pm Program

Buy tickets/get more info now