Daniel defoe birth and death
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Daniel Defoe
17/18th-century English trader, writer and journalist
Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; c. 1660 – 24 April 1731)[1] was an English novelist, journalist, merchant, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translations.[2] He has been seen as one of the earliest proponents of the English novel, and helped to popularise the form in Britain with others such as Aphra Behn and Samuel Richardson.[3] Defoe wrote many political tracts, was often in trouble with the authorities, and spent a period in prison. Intellectuals and political leaders paid attention to his fresh ideas and sometimes consulted him.
Defoe was a prolific and versatile writer, producing more than three hundred works[4]—books, pamphlets, and journals—on diverse topics, including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology and the supernatural. He was also a pioneer of business journalism[5] and economic journalism.[6]
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Daniel Defoe (1660?-1731)
Daniel Defoe was born and grew up in turbulent times. On Defoe’s birth, see J. A. Downie’s essay “Defoe’s Birth,” which you can access here. We would like to thank Professor Alan Downie and The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats for their permission to post this essay here. Defoe’s youth was marked by the plague, the great fire of London, a series of wars with the Dutch, and the persecution of Dissenters. His adult life would be equally unstable, particularly where financial matters were concerned. After receiving an education at a dissenting academy, Defoe embarked on a series of mercantile ventures, working with a number of different products, ranging from wine to bricks to hosiery. As Maximillian E. Novak has pointed out, this diversification was typical for a business man in a time of a shifting national economy (Master of Fictions 77). Defoe was also a highly active investor, investing funds in such ventures as the perfume trade and in a diving machine. At times he was highly successful, yet at other po
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Kirkcudbright: Possibly Defoe's Least Favourite Place in Scotland
Daniel Defoe lived from (probably) September 1660 to 26 April 1731. He is best known as the prolific author of between 300 and 500 literary and political works; as one of the creators of the popular English novel; and, especially, as the author of Robinson Crusoe. Less well known was the fact that he was also at different times a merchant, a manufacturer, a rebel, a marine insurer, a swindler, a convict, a spy, a journalist and a spin doctor.
Daniel Defoe was born Daniel Foe, probably in September 1660, the son of a family of Presbyterian dissenters in the parish of St Giles, London. He attended school at the Presbyterian Morton's Academy and his parents hoped he would become a Presbyterian Minister.
Instead Daniel went into business, adding the "De" to the start of his surname to make it sound more aristocratic and/or French. His activities rapidly expanded to include the breeding of civet cats for perfume manufacture; the ownership and oper
Daniel Defoe (1660?-1731)
Daniel Defoe was born and grew up in turbulent times. On Defoe’s birth, see J. A. Downie’s essay “Defoe’s Birth,” which you can access here. We would like to thank Professor Alan Downie and The Scriblerian and the Kit-Cats for their permission to post this essay here. Defoe’s youth was marked by the plague, the great fire of London, a series of wars with the Dutch, and the persecution of Dissenters. His adult life would be equally unstable, particularly where financial matters were concerned. After receiving an education at a dissenting academy, Defoe embarked on a series of mercantile ventures, working with a number of different products, ranging from wine to bricks to hosiery. As Maximillian E. Novak has pointed out, this diversification was typical for a business man in a time of a shifting national economy (Master of Fictions 77). Defoe was also a highly active investor, investing funds in such ventures as the perfume trade and in a diving machine. At times he was highly successful, yet at other po
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Kirkcudbright: Possibly Defoe's Least Favourite Place in Scotland |
Daniel Defoe lived from (probably) September 1660 to 26 April 1731. He is best known as the prolific author of between 300 and 500 literary and political works; as one of the creators of the popular English novel; and, especially, as the author of Robinson Crusoe. Less well known was the fact that he was also at different times a merchant, a manufacturer, a rebel, a marine insurer, a swindler, a convict, a spy, a journalist and a spin doctor.
Daniel Defoe was born Daniel Foe, probably in September 1660, the son of a family of Presbyterian dissenters in the parish of St Giles, London. He attended school at the Presbyterian Morton's Academy and his parents hoped he would become a Presbyterian Minister.
Instead Daniel went into business, adding the "De" to the start of his surname to make it sound more aristocratic and/or French. His activities rapidly expanded to include the breeding of civet cats for perfume manufacture; the ownership and oper
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