Balti state university a. Russo chair of english philology

Daniel Defoe 
(1661 - 1731) 
Daniel Defoe is considered to be the founder of novel in English Literature. He was born in 
London in 1667 in the family of a butcher, who gave him a good education, which meant to 
make Daniel a priest, but the young man refused to go into the ministry. He started his adult life 
as a merchant but turned out to be a failure in this field. The only branch of business in which D. 
Defoe proved to be successful was journalism and literature. At the age of 23, D. Defoe started 

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writing pamphlets. His first one was an attack at the policy of Charles II The Shortest Way with 
the Dissenters (1702) which was directed against the Tories. The irony of the pamphlet being 
very subtle, the enemy didn‟t catch it. They even praised Defoe for this pamphlet, considering 
that the critics was addressed to the opposition. Later on they grasped the idea and sent him to 
jail. They arranged a disgraceful punishment for Defoe - “the pillory”. The person doomed to it 
was tied up to a pillory in a public square and people were supposed to throw eggs and rotten 
tomatoes at anybody standing at the pillory. It was a tough and humiliating experience, which 
made Daniel Defoe compose the poem Hymn to the Pillory, which was a bitter criticism of this 
Law. After being released form prison he became editor of a journal, which supported the Tories, 
his former enemies. 
In 1719 he tried his hand at another kind of literature – fiction. He wrote his famous novel, 
Robinson Crusoe, which brought him fame. After it followed some other novels: Captain 
Singleton (1720), Moll Flanders, Lady Roxanne and Colonel Jacque (1722). 
D. Defoe died in Cripplegate, on April 24, 1731 of lethargy.