Can anyone recommend a story where the main character overcomes or struggles with social isolation?
I added “social” in the title because I don’t like stories where someone is physically isolated on an island or prison somewhere.
Physical isolation is ok if they eventually come to meet people at some point. Like in WALL-E (I know it’s not a book) where WALL-E is alone at first, but then quickly encounters another robot.
Stripper Lessons by John O’Brien
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. Also an excellent movie.
How about “The Snow Goose” by Paul Gallico or “The Man with No Face” by Isabelle Holland?
If TV is okay, check out To See The Invisible Manfrom the 1980’sversion of Twilight Zone.
If it has to be a book, then you can look for the original short story.
A lot depends on your definition of “Social isolation.”
If your definition includes “trying to be part of a community, but failing miserably,” there are all kinds of classics. Sinclair Lewis’ Main Street, for instance, chronicles the social isolation of a progressive young woman who just can’t figure out how to fit into the smug, isolated, conservative Midwestern town she’s living in.
That’s definitely a SORT of social isolation, but not the kind Robinson Crusoe faced.
Confederacy of Dunces.
How about ***The Fixer by Bernard Malamud, or Darkness at Noon ***by Arthur Koestler?
Both, especially the former, deal with prisoners who are kept isolated for long stretches of time, and left alone with their own thoughts.
…And The Ass Saw The Angel by Nick Cave.
Or the classic short story * The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner*