Unit 6 Daniel Defoe (1660—1731)

Life

Daniel Defoe born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist,pamphleteer,and spy,most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is noted for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain with others such as Samuel Richardson, and is among the founders of the English novel. He was a prolific and versatile writer, producing more than five hundred books, pamphlets, and journals on various topics,including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology, and the supernatural. He was also a pioneer of economic journalism.

Defoe's first notable publication was An Essay upon Projects,a series of proposals for social and economic improvement, published in 1697. From 1697 to 1698, he defended the right of King William III to a standing army during disarmament,after the Treaty of Ryswick(1697)had ended the Nine Years'War(1688—1697).His most successful poem,The True-Born Englishman (1701), defended the king against the perceived xenophobia of his enemies, satirising the English claim to racial purity. In 1701, Defoe presented the Legion's Memorial to the Speaker of the House of Commons, later his employer Robert Harley, flanked by a guard of sixteen gentlemen of quality. It demanded the release of the Kentish petitioners, who had asked Parliament to support the king in an imminent war against France.

Not all of Defoe's pamphlet writing was political. One pamphlet was originally published anonymously, entitled“A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal the Next Day after her Death to One Mrs. Bargrave at Canterbury the 8th of September, 1705.”It deals with interaction between the spiritual realm and the physical realm and was most likely written in support of Charles Drelincourt's The Christian Defense against the Fears of Death(1651).It describes Mrs. Bargrave's encounter with her old friend Mrs. Veal after she had died. It is clear from this piece and other writings that the political portion of Defoe's life was by no means his only focus.

From 1719 to 1724, Defoe published the novels for which he is famous (see below). In the final decade of his life,he also wrote conduct manuals,including Religious Courtship(1722), The Complete English Tradesman(1726)and The New Family Instructor(1727).He published a number of books decrying the breakdown of the social order, such as The Great Law of Subordination Considered (1724) and Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business (1725) and works on the supernatural,like The Political History of the Devil(1726),A System of Magick (1727) and An Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions (1727). His works on foreign travel and tradeinclude A General History of Discoveries and Improvements(1727)and Atlas Maritimus and Commercialis (1728). Perhaps his greatest achievement with the novels is the magisterial A tour thro'the whole island of Great Britain (1724—1727), which provided a panoramic survey of British trade on the eve of the Industrial Revolution.