Morris Frankel

Author: Daniel Defoe
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: Daniel Defoe was born in London in 1660, the son of a candlemaker. He witnessed many changes in London, including the plague and fire of 1666. Defoe entered Morton's Nonconformist College in Newington Green with the ambition to become a Presbyterian minister. However, in 1682, after becoming a hosiery merchant on Mincing Lane, he abandoned this idea. He traveled to France, Spain, and some Low Countries; later in life, he became fascinated with traveling. In 1684, he married Mary Tuffley, and later he was imprisoned for debt. Defoe had a very rich life experience: he participated in short-term battles during the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, and three years later, during the "Glorious Revolution," he was a staunch supporter of William of Orange. Throughout his life, he was fond of role-playing and disguise, taking it to the extreme in his work as a detective. He often used pseudonyms. As a prolific and versatile writer, he wrote over 500 books, pamphlets, and diaries on a wide range of topics, including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology, and supernatural phenomena. Defoe began writing novels relatively late: his novel "Robinson Crusoe" was not published until 1719. Defoe's other major works, such as "Moll Flanders," "A Journal of the Plague Year," and "Roxana," were also published subsequently. Defoe died in 1731, reportedly of "somnia," and was buried in the Bunhill Fields cemetery in London.