Daniel Defoe
(1660-1731)
Life
Defoe was born as the son of James Foe, a butcher of Stroke Newington. He studied at Charles Morton's Academy, London. Although his Nonconformist father intended him for the ministry, Defoe plunged into politics and trade, traveling extensively in Europe. In the early 1680s Defoe was a commission merchant in Cornhill but went bankrupt in 1691. In 1684 he married Mary Tuffley, they had two sons and five daughters.
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Evaluation
The father of the English novel. British writer of eighteenth
century Britain, the founder of the realistic novel.
The main works
The Robinson Crusoe Captain Singleton Moll Flanders Colonel Jacque A Journal Plague Years
Work experience
Merchant Soldier News reporter Pamphleteer Journalist Novelist
Characteristics of his novels
The central characters in his novels are usually lowerlass people, the down-trodden, the unfortunate and the criminals, like whore, pirate, pickpocket, rogue. Known as Picaresque novel. The central idea of his novels is man is good and noble by nature, but may be corrupted by an evil social environment. His novels are the first literary works devoted to the study of the problems of the lower class people. The details of his novels are usually organized in a vivid way and his stories are both credible and fascinating. He wanted his readers to regard his novels as true stories and so he deliberately avoids all art in writing.His language is smooth, easy, colloquial and mostly vernacular.