Name : Maru
JANAKKUMAR Jethalal
Paper : 2 [The Neo Classical Literature]
Semester : 1
Roll no : 26
Topic : Contribution Defoe as a
Novelist
Email id : marujanak17@gmail.com
Submitted to :MK Bhavnagar University
Bhavnagar
Daniel Defoe
Born : Daniel Defoe
1659-1660
London, England.
Died : 24, April 1731 (Aged 70-72)
London, England.
Occupation
: Writing, journalist,
Merchant.
Genre : Adventure
“Those people
cannot enjoy comfortably what god has given them because they see and covet
what he has not given them. All of our discontents for what we want appear to
me to spring from want of thankfulness or what we have”.
-Daniel Defoe
v Introduction :
Ø Daniel Defoe
was an English trader, writer, journalist, pamphleteer his novel for Robinson
Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel
as he helped to popularize the form in Britain and with others such as Samuel
Richardson and thus is among the founders of the English novel. He 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. He was also a pioneer of economic journalism.
v HER MAJOR WORKS
IN FICTION :
1) Robinson Crusoe (1719)
2) Moll
Flanders (1722)
3) A journal of
the plague year (1722)
4) Roxana (1724)
vHE WAS
ACCLAIMED WRITER :
§ Defoe published
his first literary piece a political pamphlet in 1683. He also instead in
political and he continued to write political works, working as a journalist,
until the early 1700s. Her other works during this period targeted support from
King William!!! also known as “William
Henry of Orange .” some of his most popular works inclith the true born
Englishman which shed light on racial prejudice in England following attacks on
William for being a foreigner. And the Alternate that was published from 1704
to 1773 during the Reign of Queen Anne king William!!’S successor. Political
adversary of Defoe’s constantly had him continent for his writing 1713 Defoe
took a new literary part in 1719 around the age 19 when he published Robinson
Crusoe a fiction novel based on several for short essay that he had composed
over the years. a handful of novels after often with rogues and criminal’s as
lead character including –
Ø Moll Flanders
Ø Colouel Jack
Ø Captain singletor
Ø Jounal of the plague years and his major
piece, Roxana (1724)
v SOME OF HIS
LATTER WORKS :
· The nonfiction
essay “conjugal lewdness; or,
· Matrimonial
whoredom (1727)
· A follow –up
piece to the “conjugal lewdness” essay entitle “a treatise Concerning the use
and abuse of the marriage bed.
v DEFOE’S
IMPORTANCE IN LITERARY HISTORY
Ø Though Defoe’s
contribution to the novel was sometimes down played in the 18th and
19th centuries, 20th century literary historians and
critics came to recognize Defoe as one of the most important founding fathers
the modern novel.
Defoe’s most important contributions to
the development of fiction include
especially:
Ø Realistic
detail in external, physical description and attention to realism in presentation.
None of Defoe’s fiction bore his name on the title all his “novels” were
presented to and sometimes received by the publish as real life Autobiographies
of the main characters.
Ø Plain, non
literary prose considered eminently readable in his time.
Ø The writer’s
effective projection of himself with vivid convincing imagination into the
various Protagonists who narrate their respective fictional “Autobiographies.”
v CHARACTERISTICS
OF THE FICTION :
Ø Evidently
written in last the flaws and inconsistencies are often noted as ostensibly
realistic weakness in the writing style of his fictional “autobiographer.”
Ø Pointedly
intended as moralistic propaganda there is some debate whether his moral
Preaching’s were heart left, or whether Defoe made his works blatantly
“instructional” so they would be socially acceptable in an era when fiction was
considered immoral. Defoe was a devout puritan, but he was also a crafty
businessman most of Defoe’s fiction travel narratives such as Robinson Crusoe’s
and “criminal confessions” such as Moll Flanders’s were much in vogue in the
early 18th century. The earnestness of his nonfiction moral writings
may suggest that Defoe’s moral intent in the fiction was also in earnest.
Ø Usually
episodic Defoe’s “Autobiographies” often lack the narrative coherence we expect
in modern novels. He offers series of adventures episodes that are unified more
by their common subject the life story of the main character than by apparently
conscious artistic design. Typically episodes of narrative are punctuated with
passages of moral or practical instruction.
Ø Some see
Defoe’s protagonists as psychologically thin usually the reader learns more
about actions and circumstantial predicaments than internal feelings and
reactions.
v A FEW THEMES,
MOTIFS AND FEATURES TO CONSIDER AS YOU READ MOLL FLANDERS :
Ø Different types
and aspects of realism from the title page to detailed description, to the
fascinating underbelly of a rising criminal class.
Ø Defoe’s
purpose: moral &sensational.
Ø Moll’s motivation:
fear of poverty & desire for adventure and the good life.
Ø The importance
of money, a new middle class concern.
Ø Moll as survivor do we admire her?
Ø Isolation and
“economic individualism.”
Ø Moll’s
femininity and masculinity.
v OTHER ARTICLES
ON DANIEL DEFOE :
Ø Works of Daniel
Defoe : life and career of Daniel Defoe
Ø the books of
Daniel
Ø works of Daniel
Defoe : critical commentary
Ø Arguments to
the self in Defoe’s Roxana.
Ø An essay on the
history and reality of apparitions stoke Newington Daniel Defoe edition.
Ø The life of
Daniel Defoe.
Ø Works of Daniel Defoe : introduction
Ø A sermon by the
“queen of whores”. (Daniel Defoe’s Roxana).
Ø Dating the
devil: Daniel Defoe’s Roxana and political history of the devil.
Ø “Modern
Panchgyrick” and Defoe’s “dunciad”.
v DENIEL DEFOE AS
A NOVEL WRITER :
Ø Daniel Defoe’s
was an obscure and polemic man who lived seven reigns and a Court less number
of political and social changes of that turbulent period, Daniel Defoe gave a
clear evidence of a transformation, the flourish of the English spirit in
literature. He also took a great interest in partisan politics and was a
prolific spokesman for the views and interest of the emerging middle class.
Ø James Joyce
stated in an essay the backgrounds that outstands the importance of Daniel
Defoe’s work in Chaucer prevailed the Norman priests and foreign heroes. Milton
tried a puritan version of the divine comedy; the theatre of the monarch
restoration followed the Spanish patterns Shakespeare’s work is filled with
characters from overseas. It was Daniel Defoe the first writer who did not
follow or adapt foreign works, his pen introduced the national spirit, so it is
fair to say that he is the father of the English novel.
Ø More than two
hundred and twenty works are attributed to Daniel Defoe. He expressed his
opinion on every subject he was interested in. in the journalist field, his
contribution is of great relevance. From 1704 to 1713, Daniel Defoe directed
the review, the prototype of the later well-known newspapers. Defoe was the
only journalist to write the whole the review and many times had to do it from
jail.
Ø The art of the
essay owes Defoe many efficient comments on diverse theme, but his contribution
to the novel is more important. Defoe was a pioneer introducing in literature
the character of the heartless thief, the orphan child and the brutal but
sensitive prostitute. Defoe had a singular skill to inspire his works in low
class people he judged the stories only by its intrinsic importance without
observing the social environment they come from. Famous writers like James
Joyce, foster, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville verity the notable
influence reached by Defoe’s fiction novels.
vconclusion:
He wrote more than, pamphlets
and journals on various topic. He was also the pioneer of economic journalism.
Another novel is captain singleton, and His famous novel is Robinson Crusoe. The
importance of Robinson Crusoe to English literature is that it is considered to
be one of the novel as a genre the others being Defoe’s “Moll Flanders,” and
“Roxana” and a number of other fictions written by writers.
