Wyss, << vees, >> family wrote The Swiss Family Robinson, a popular children’s adventure story about a shipwrecked family. Johann David Wyss (1743-1818), a Swiss pastor, made up the story to tell his four young sons. He wrote it down for the family, and he and his son Johann Emmanuel (1782-1837) illustrated it. Years later, another son, Johann Rudolf (1781-1830), rediscovered the story. He revised it and, in 1812 and 1813, had it published. He and his father are each sometimes considered the author.
In The Swiss Family Robinson, the Robinson family struggles to survive alone on an island. They learn that they must work together, rather than separately. Young readers especially enjoy the book because the four Robinson sons behave—and misbehave—like real children. The book shows the influence of Robinson Crusoe (1719), a novel about a shipwrecked sailor on an island. This novel, by the English author Daniel Defoe, was extremely popular at the time. See Robinson Crusoe.
Johann Rudolf Wyss was a professor and a scholar of Swiss folklore. He wrote the words to a popular Swiss patriotic song. He, Johann Emmanuel Wyss, and their father were all born in Bern.
