Books by Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) was a prolific English writer and occupies a revered place in the annals of English literature. Defoe emerged as a literary force during a tumultuous era marked by political upheaval, economic transformation, and the rise of the novel as a distinctive literary form.
Defoe’s enduring legacy is perhaps best encapsulated in his masterpiece, Robinson Crusoe, a novel that continues to captivate readers with its exploration of isolation, survival, and the human spirit.
“The novel is based on an actual woman called Moll King who was an accomplice of a well-known organized crime boss in the 18th century called Jonathan Wild. Defoe found out about Moll King when he was visiting a journalist he’d collaborated with in Newgate Prison in the late 1710s. Moll King was irrepressible. She was constantly committing crimes—I think she was sentenced to transportation to America four times and went twice. On both occasions, she came back, which was illegal. She was also constantly making new marriages.” Read more...
Sophie Gee, Literary Scholar
“When Defoe was writing in the 1720s, the novel was a new and emerging genre. Novelists were hungry for good material, so Defoe looked back sixty years to the bubonic plague that struck London around 1665, the year before the Great Fire of London.” Read more...
The Best Books to Read in Quarantine
Jenny Davidson, Literary Scholar
Interviews where books by Daniel Defoe were recommended
The Best Books to Read in Quarantine, recommended by Jenny Davidson
Times of disease and pestilence have much to tell us about the human condition. Jenny Davidson, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, suggests some of the best books to read if you’re self-isolating or in quarantine.
The Best 18th-Century Novels, recommended by Sophie Gee
There’s nothing in modern works of fiction that wasn’t already there in the great novels of the 18th century, argues Sophie Gee, a professor of English at Princeton University and co-host of the Secret Life of Books podcast. She talks us through five of her favourites, from the irrepressible Moll Flanders to the melancholic beauty of Sense and Sensibility.
Jason Webster on the Best Books on Spain