Desert island Autodidactus" inspired Robert Boyle, an acquaintance of Pococke, to write his own philosophical novel set on a deserted island, "The Aspiring Naturalist". Ibn al-Nafis' "Theologus Autodidactus" was also eventually translated into English in the early 20th century. Published in 1719, Daniel Defoe's novel "Robinson Crusoe" about a castaway on a desert island has spawned so many imitations in film, television and radio that its name was used to define a genre, Robinsonade. The novel features Man Friday, Crusoe's personal assistant. It is likely that Defoe took inspiration for Crusoe from a Scottish sailor named Alexander Selkirk, who was rescued in
Despair (novel) similar fashion, Julian Connolly calls "Despair" “a cautionary tale of creative solipsism”. In 1978 the novel was adapted into the film "Despair", directed by the German film-maker Rainer Werner Fassbinder and starring Dirk Bogarde. Nabokov's novel was adapted by Tom Stoppard. Boyd, Brian. "Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years". Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991. Print. Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich. "Despair". New York, NY: Vintage International, 1989. Print. Despair (novel) Despair (, or "") is the seventh novel by Vladimir Nabokov, originally published in Russian, serially in the politicized literary journal "Sovremennye zapiski" during 1934. It was then published as a book