114
4.
Daniel Defoe – the creator of the realistic novel. Literary and political activity of Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe is the founder of the early realistic novel. He was a journalist, and in many ways,
the father of modern English periodicals. He founded and conducted the first English newspaper “the
Review” (1704 – 1713). Before his time stories were usually written as long poems or dramas. He
produced some 200 works of nonfiction prose in addition to close 2 000 short essays in periodical
publications, several of which he also edited.
Daniel Defoe was born in 1660, in the family of James Foe, a London butcher. His father was
wealthy enough to give his son a good education. Daniel was to become a priest, but when his training
was completed, he decided to engage in business as a hosier (dealing with stockings and socks). It was
his cherished desire to become wealthy, but his wish was never fulfilled. The only branch in which he
proved to be successful was journalism and literature.
When he was about 23, he started writing pamphlets. In his “Essays on Projects” Defoe
expressed his views on the greatest public improvements of modern times: higher education for
women, the protection of seamen, the construction of highways, and the opening of saving-banks.
In 1701, he wrote a satire in verse, “The True-born Englishman”. It was written against those who
declared that the English race should be kept pure. In the satire, Defoe proved that true-born
Englishman did not exist, since the English nation consisted of Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Normans, and
others.
Defoe was involved in Monmouth rebellion in 1685 against James II. While hiding as a fugitive
(run-away) in a churchyard after the rebellion was put down, he noticed the name Robinson Crusoe
carved on a stone, and later gave it to his famous hero. Defoe became a supporter of William, joining
his army in 1688.
In his own days Defoe was regarded as an unscrupulous (unprincipled), diabolical (devilish)
journalist. Defoe used a number of pen names. His political writings were widely read and made him
powerful enemies. His most remarkable achievement during Queen Anne's reign was the periodical “A
Review of the Affairs of France and of All Europe” (1704-1713). It was published weekly, later three
times a week and resembled modern newspapers.
In 1719, he tried his hand at another kind of literature – fiction. Defoe was one of the first to
write stories about believable characters in realistic situations using simple prose. He achieved literary
immortality when in April 1719 he published Robinson Crusoe, which was based partly on the memoirs
of voyagers and castaways, such as Alexander Selkirk, who spent on his island four years and four
months. After the book was published, Defoe became famous and rich. Now he wrote for four public
magazines and received a regular sum of money from the government. Defoe published “The Life of
Captain Singleton” in 1720, a vivid tale with piracy and Africa as its background, “The fortunes and
Misfortunes of Moll Flanders” in 1722, the “Female Rogues”, “A Journal of the Plague year” in1722 and
“A History of the Lady Roxana” in 1724.
In 1729, while at work on a book, which was to be entitled “The Complete English Gentleman”,
Defoe fell ill and in two years’ time he died.
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: