Abstract: This article uses the repeated references made in John Banville's 2000 novel Eclipse to Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe as a foundation for an intertextual reading of the two texts. Both the protagonists make elaborate attempts at self-imposed isolation. Through close reading and comparative analysis, the paper argues that while both Alex Cleave and Robinson Crusoe seek to establish autonomous subjectivity through separation from others (particularly women), Banville's novel critically engages with and ironizes this masculine literary tradition. The study demonstrates how Eclipse both inherits and subverts Defoe's legacy of the solipsistic male narrator, particularly through Cleave's failed attempt to achieve authentic selfhood through isolation. The novel's form becomes increasingly permeable to other voices despite Cleave's resistance and his aversion to others. By analyzing the parallels between Cleave's retreat to his childhood home and Crusoe's island exile, the paper shows how Banville's work both acknowledges and challenges the novel form's historically "violent relation to alterity," particularly in its treatment of female characters.
Karen McCarthy (Mon,) studied this question.