Exploration is self-discovery

My favorite bookstore in Portland Oregon, "Annie Bloom’s Books" is located in the quaint Multnomah Village area of the city. I find surprises there.

I was walking the dog and stopped in to Annie Bloom’s. (Dogs are allowed there as long as they stay away from the resident cat.) I needed a book to read on a flight to Europe.

In the past I purchased anthologies of short stories. I can pick them up or put them down without losing much continuity.

The collections for this year were not out yet so I looked for another read. My prize was on the sale table. The name is "Why Not Catch-21?" by Gary Dexter. It is a collection of essays on the titles of popular English language books.

There is enough good stuff here for a dozen columns, but of most interest was the chapter on the book "Swiss Family Robinson."

I remember reading "Swiss Family Robinson" as a youngster, but had not noticed one important fact that Dexter points out. The family in the book is not named. The title is about a family lost on a deserted island.

The condition of being lost has been given the name of "robinson" because of "Robinson Crusoe" created by Daniel Defoe. Both Defoe and Johann Wyss, who wrote "Swiss Family", were pastors writing novels about finding meaning in our isolation.

They are morality plays where "robinson" goes from being a noun to a verb meaning "a time of self realization."

There are hundreds of robinson stories in various languages.

This makes the plot of many books more meaningful. For instance, I immediately realized that "Lord of the Flies" could have been "School Boys Robinson" instead. Secondly, as we were about to wing toward an adventure, our story could be "Middle-Class Couple Robinson." We would lose our known context to explore ourselves in another environment.

Europe is not deserted, but for us it calls for some creative adaptation. It means adjusting to different world views, cultures and even languages.

This blog is about the "Wilsons" we get to know.

Thanks to Mr. Dexter for the basic theme, and, thanks to Annie Bloom’s Books. Stay tuned.