DANIEL
DEFOE
Defoe was born in London in 1660 and he was educated at Newington
Green. Defoe was a prolific writer: he wrote essays, pamphlets and travel books
besides many articles for newspapers and magazines. In 1719 Defoe published Robinson Crusoe, which is the
story of a shipwreck on a desert island where he remained for twenty-eight
years. He wrote a diary where he recorded his experiences. Robinson rescued a
man from cannibals, he called him Friday, he taught him English and to read the
Bible. The novel ends with Robinson's return to England. Daniel Defoe wrote other
important novels as Moll Flanders, Lady Roxana, Captain Singleton and Colonel
Jack. He died in 1731.
Defoe's novels are fictional autobiographies. Their
structure is characterised by a series of episodes and adventures held together by the unifying presence
of a single hero. The characters usually appear in isolation either physically
or socially.
The hero of Defoe's novel belongs to the middle-class. The
author decides to set the story on a desert island because there Robinson can
prove his qualities, to demonstrate that he deserves to be saved by God's Providence. On the island
he organises a
primitive empire, thus becoming the model of the English coloniser: his stay on
the island is seen as a change to exploit and dominate Nature. The society on
the island can be read as an exaltation of 18thcentury England
and its ideals of mobility and individualism. Defoe shows that the individual
can modify his destiny through action.
