Daniel Defoe Brief Biography
English Author Famous for Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders
English author Defoe wrote one of the best-known books in the English literature, Robinson Crusoe, an early example of a novel. Another book, Moll Flanders, became just as famous.
Before his time stories were usually written as long poems or dramas. He was one of the first to write believable characters in stories, in realistic situations by using simple prose.
Brief Profile of the Early Life of Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe's birthday is not known. The son of a butcher, he was born sometime in 1660, in London. He was a younger contemporary of John Bunyan, author of the famous Pilgrim's Progress.
After completing his education, he traveled in Europe and settled as a businessman and trader. In his youth, he was involved in many different business ventures, all of which failed, leaving him with large debts.
He turned to writing as a way of earning money and to criticize things that he felt were unjust in society. He worked as a spy and a spin-doctor both for the Tories and Whigs.
Defoe the Writer
Defoe wrote hundreds of pamphlets on numerous subjects, from politics and religion to geography, travel and the supernatural. His political writings were often in the form of satires. They were popular with the public but earned him powerful enemies. As a consequence, his attacks got him into trouble, even landing Defoe in jail.
Defoe's Later Years
It wasn't until he was in his 40s that Defoe gave up politics. He began writing books for which he is remembered today.
His masterpiece, Robinson Crusoe, published when he was 59, is the story of a man shipwrecked alone on an island. It was based on the real life adventures of a man called Alexander Selkirk and was an immediate and huge success.
Defoe's second great novel, Moll Flanders, was also much loved. It tells of a girl's life as a whore and robber in London until the time she repented.
In effect, both Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders tell stories about survival. Both have become classics of English literature.
Defoe died in April 24, 1731, aged 71.
Daniel Defoe's Books
- The True-born Englishman, 1701
- The True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal, 1706
- A General History of the Union of Great Britain, 1709
- Robinson Crusoe, 1719
- Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, 1719
- Memoirs of a Cavalier, 1720
- Captain Singleton, 1720
- Moll Flanders, 1722
- A Journal of the Plague Year, 1722
- Colonel Jack, 1722
- Roxana, 1724
- A Political History of the Devil, 1726
Sources:
- Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994.
- McGovern, Una, Ed. Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers / Harrap Publishers, 2002.
- Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997.
Daniel Defoe, English Novelist and Satirist
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