Robinson Crusoe

Daniel Defoe

Jul 2017 · Рипол Классик

About this eBook

Daniel Defoe Born Daniel Foe. (1660 — 1731) A famous English trader, writer, journalist, pamphleteer, and spy, considered among the founders of the English novel. Defoe 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. Robinson Crusoe, a novel, first published in 1719, is presented as an autobiography of the title character — a castaway who spends thirty years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers, before ultimately being rescued. Despite its simple narrative style it was well received in the literary world and is often credited as marking the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre.

About the author

Daniel Defoe was born Daniel Foe in London, England on September 13, 1660. He changed his surname in 1703, adding the more genteel "De" before his own name to suggest a higher social standing. He was a novelist, journalist, and political agent. His writings covered a wide range of topics. His novels include Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, Roxana, Captain Singleton, and Colonel Jack. He wrote A Tour Thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain, which is an important source of English economic life, and ghost stories including A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal. He also wrote satirical poems and pamphlets and edited a newspaper. He was imprisoned and pilloried for his controversial work, The Shortest Way with the Dissenters, which suggested that all non-Conformist ministers be hanged. He died on April 24, 1731.