Daniel Defoe born 1660-1731

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Daniel Defoe is widely described as the father of the English novel: before the publication of Robinson Crusoe, the closest approximations were long poems or dramas. A man of multifarious careers – as a pamphleteer, in politics, trade, travel and as a religious thinker (his parents were dissenting Puritans) - all these interests and influences can be traced in his fiction.

Defoe’s beliefs and allegiances are hard to pin down – indeed, he had the reputation for being an unscrupulous mercenary in this respect. He was involved in the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 against James II. He then apparently switched sides and became a supporter of William, joining his army. He found fame – and infamy - with his pamphlet The Shortest Way with the Dissenters. He was sent to prison in 1703 but was released in return for services as an intelligence agent and pamphleteer for the Tories. When they fell from power, Defoe continued to carry out similar work for the Whig government, later transferring his loyalties back to the Tories at the opportune moment. His business ventures were no more consistent – merchant, accountant, journalist to name but a few – many of them ending in failure and bankruptcy. After the publication of Robinson Crusoe in 1719, he focussed increasingly on books rather than pamphlets, and it is with these that he achieved lasting success and literary reputation.

Through the twists of his life Defoe held fast to the idea that it was life itself and the experience of living that provided one with knowledge and wisdom. His fictional characters echo the words he wrote of himself! “In the School of Affliction I have learnt more Philosophy than at the Academy, and more Divinity than from the Pulpit: In Prison I have learnt to know that Liberty does not consist in open Doors, and the free Egress and Regress of Locomotion. I have seen the rough side of the World as well as the smooth, and have in less than half a Year tasted the difference between the Closet of a King, and the Dungeon of Newgate."