The article briefly describes the biography of Daniel Defoe - writer and journalist, founder English novel. He became famous for his work about Robinson Crusoe.
Brief biography of Daniel Defoe: first steps
Defoe was born in 1660 near London. The boy was sent to study at a theological seminary, which brought him knowledge classical literature and ancient languages. Further training took place at the Theological Academy. For some time, Defoe even wrote poetry on religious themes. Defoe had the prospect of becoming a priest. But already with early childhood he was more attracted to commercial activities.
After completing his studies, Defoe became one of the many merchants operating in England at that time. He opens his own production and makes numerous business trips to countries that are trading partners of England. Defoe owned many European languages. Sea travel Defoe is led to being briefly captured by pirates one day. Defoe's adventurous activities repeat the fate of many commercial enterprises of that time. He ends up going broke as a result of a careless deal.
Defoe distinguished himself in another field. Active political activity brings him to the camp of the rebels against James II. He was forced to hide from justice for a long time.
The future writer was also prosecuted for his first attempts literary activity. His pamphlets and satirical poems were sharply directed against existing social vices. Defoe ridiculed the noble aristocracy. Ultimately, it was his activities as a writer denouncing society that undermined his business reputation and caused bankruptcy. Defoe was imprisoned, from which he was rescued by his future patron, Minister R. Harley, who discerned great talent in the prisoner.
Biography of Defoe: journalistic activities
Defoe was arranged for public service as editor and writer of political articles for the Review. Defoe's work in this area was very productive and brought him wide fame. He is considered the founder of political, economic and crime journalism. The newspapers of his time were engaged in a dry presentation of facts. Defoe writes interesting articles that people want to read. He publishes interviews in the newspaper with a wide variety of people, including convicted criminals.
Defoe is engaged in literary activities. His work deserves attention" General history pirates", containing absolutely reliable information.
Robinson Crusoe
While working as a journalist, Defoe writes a novel that made his name world famous. "Robinson Crusoe" became the embodiment of the then dominant idea of the omnipotence of man and his complete subordination of the natural elements. The novel was based on a real incident with A. Selkir, who was landed on an uninhabited island and spent a long time on it. The fruitful activity of a person who finds himself in desert island, full of unreal events and subject to many accidents. But Defoe's merit lies in the fact that he showed the presence of limitless possibilities of the human mind. Even in the most difficult conditions, when there seems to be no way to avoid imminent death, his hero finds the strength to continue the fight for survival.
The fantastic nature of the novel did not at all affect its artistic value. Moreover, the detailed description of all of Robinson’s actions gave the novel greater veracity and was perceived by many people as the truth. All researchers of Defoe's work note the exceptional realism in the description of the most insignificant details, bordering on documentary presentation.
Defoe, inspired by success, wrote two more parts of Robinson's further adventures, but they enjoyed virtually no success and went unnoticed.
The writer created about 500 more different works. However, they are known only to a narrow circle of specialists in his work. For history, Defoe remains, first of all, the author of the adventures of Robinson Crusoe. This novel is read by children and adults all over the world.
The writer died in 1731 in England.
Daniel Defoe; London, Kingdom of England; 1660 – 04/24/1731
Daniel Defoe is called one of the founders of the English novel. Over the years of his work, he published more than 500 books, brochures and magazines on the most different topics. But the greatest fame and memory for centuries was brought to him by the novel about Robinson Crusoe, which was filmed more than 20 times a year. different countries peace. And the very idea of “Robinsonade” has become widespread and has been reflected in literature for several centuries.
Biography of Daniel Defoe
There is still controversy about the true date of birth of Daniel Defoe. Historians call the period from 1659 to 1662. But the most likely date is still considered to be 1660. The boy's birth name was Daniel Foe. His father was a fairly successful meat merchant in the suburbs of London. When Daniel was five years old, a plague broke out in London, which his family successfully survived. And the very next year, a fire in London destroyed almost all the houses in the surrounding area. Only Foe's house and another one nearby remained. At the age of ten, Daniel lost his mother. He received his education from the Rev. James Fisher.
Although Daniel was initially preparing to become a pastor, persecution from the Presbyterian schismatics forced him to go into business. Here he first worked as an assistant, and then began to engage in the hosiery business himself. And he did it quite successfully. In 1684, Daniel Defoe married. This was done out of calculation and for the sake of a dowry, which amounted to 3,700 pounds. Huge money in those days. Nevertheless, the marriage lasted more than 50 years, resulting in eight children.
In 1685, Daniel took part in the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion, which was brutally suppressed. Nevertheless, Daniel managed not only to receive a pardon, but also to get closer to the court. He even became the head of the English secret service. But this spoiled his trade relations with France and he was soon caught up in debt. After his release, he traveled a lot around Europe, after which he began to demand to be called Daniel Defoe. He returned to England only in 1696 and soon became the owner of a brick factory.
In 1697, it became possible to read Daniel Defoe's books on political and religious topics. But as a result of a political coup, King William III was replaced by Queen Anne and Daniel Defoe fell out of favor. He was sentenced to three days in the pillory, a fine and imprisonment. Only thanks to political games did he manage to avoid punishment and even write off part of his debts. But this did not destroy his love for literature. How he tries his hand at creativity again and again. In 1703, he was arrested again and sentenced to the pillory because of his new pamphlet.
In 1706, Daniel Defoe is appointed as a secret agent in Scotland. His goal is to work for Scotland to accept the Union Treaty. For this reason, he publishes many of his books, and also often gives opposing arguments. This later led to attacks on him by the Scots. Since 1714, Daniel Defoe's books have increasingly moved away from political themes, and some of his novels are even used as teaching aids. In 1719, Daniel Defoe's book Robinson Crusoe was published. The novel is based on the events of the life of the Scot Alexander Selkirk, but autobiographical novel cannot be named. Daniel Defoe died in April 1731, as always on the run from creditors. Buried in London.
Books by Daniel Defoe on the Top books website
Daniel Defoe made it into our rating thanks to his book “Robinson Crusoe.” Thanks to its presence in school curriculum interest in it is sporadic. So during a surge, it gets into our rating. Usually it occupies low places in our ranking. And most likely this trend will continue in the future.
Daniel Defoe book list
Not all of Daniel Defoe's books have been translated into Russian. Therefore, we provide a list of the writer’s most popular books.
Robinson Crusoe:
Defoe Daniel (1660-1731) - English writer and public figure, author of over 560 works of different genres (essays, pamphlets, novels).
His father dreamed that he would become a priest, so Daniel Defoe studied at the Puritan Theological Academy, but he, having received good knowledge of geography, astronomy, history, French and Spanish, decided to become a merchant. The writer’s ancestors bore the surname Fo, to which the particle “de” was later added.
In the mid-70s, Defoe began his career as a journalist, writing pamphlets on the topic of the day. In many works he defended the interests of the Puritan bourgeoisie, opposed the aristocracy, and glorified the free and thinking man. Defoe paid for the harshness of his pamphlets with freedom. He was sentenced to imprisonment and pillory. But crowds of Londoners cheered Defoe when he was in the pillory. After his imprisonment, Defoe publishes his own newspaper, in which he defends freedom of speech.
In addition to journalism, Daniel Defoe created a number of novels. The first novel, Robinson Crusoe (1719), was written when Defoe was 60 years old. The novel certainly played one of the key roles in creative biography Daniel Defoe. In this educational work human courage, intelligence, and hard work are glorified. The novel became a kind of encyclopedia of socio-economic and moral ideas of the Enlightenment; it was translated into many languages of the world and caused a lot of imitations. The image of Robinson entered world literature as eternal image, which personifies a person’s resilience in the face of difficulties, his ability to survive in difficult living conditions. The novel became a hymn for the rational civilized man. Daniel Defoe began in world literature new genre- Robinsonade.
Brilliant writer died in London in 1731.
If you have already read the short biography of Daniel Defoe, you can rate this writer at the top of the page. In addition, we bring to your attention the Biographies section, where you can read about other writers, in addition to the biography of Daniel Defoe.
Daniel Defoe - English politician and famous writer. He was born in 1660 or 1661 in London and died there on April 26, 1731. The son of the butcher Fo, he, like his father, was a zealous dissident - Presbyterian.
In his youth, Daniel abandoned the spiritual career to which he was destined and took up trade in London, traveling on business in France and Spain, but due to his passion for politics and literature he suffered bankruptcy (c. 1692). He applied his experience in his “Essay on Projectionism” (published only in 1698). This essay explores the economic and political ills of the time while presenting detailed plan improving social order. There are discussions and projects about financial matters, about pauperism, which began to arise precisely at that time, about the need to multiply elementary schools, about the shortcomings of female education in England - coupled with an energetic call in favor of mental emancipation. “This is an essay full of bright thoughts and new and fair views,” wrote Benjamin Franklin, – greatly influenced my mind; my whole system of philosophies and morals changed. The main events of my life and the part I took in the revolution of my country were to a very large extent the results of this reading."
Portrait of Daniel Defoe
Another essay by Defoe: “Alms are not charity, but providing work for the poor is the ruin of a nation” - a political-economic treatise with deep meaning, where the author tries to understand social reasons poverty. In general, with works of this kind, Defoe in the field of reforms preceded everything that had England XVIII a brilliant century between its reformers. He shed light on many questions political economy, higher administration, religious, historical, aesthetic.
In 1701 he wrote for the king William III, to which he joined as a volunteer immediately after his landing (see Glorious Revolution), the satirical poem “Pureblood Englishman” (1701), where he reflected attacks on the king as a foreigner, proving that the English themselves were a mixed race and owed many advantages to this circumstance.
When the persecution of dissidents resumed after William's death, Defoe wrote an ironic pamphlet on the adherents of the "high church" Shortest path reprisals against dissenters" (1702), where he mockingly "recommended" to them, as the most convenient solution to the issue, to exterminate the dissidents without exception, just as the French king exterminated the Protestants. The author of the caustic satire was soon recognized and sentenced to pillory and imprisonment. But the shameful punishment turned into triumph (Dafoe was thrown with flowers), and the conclusion was short.
In prison, Defoe began writing “Review,” which was supposedly compiled from materials from the “scandal club.” The success of this magazine soon gave rise to other weekly publications with a moralistic orientation. Having lost, due to imprisonment, the income with which he supported himself and large family, Defoe was forced in his political writings maneuver between your conscience and the support of the ministry. During the negotiations for union between England and Scotland, the government used the services of Defoe as a mediator, and he resolved his task very skillfully.
The Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe. 1972 film
What made Defoe immortal was his essay “The Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Sailor from York” (1719). This book, which the champion of “natural man” Rousseau praised as a first-class and fascinating work for youth, is a kind of “philosophy of history”, representing a picture of the transition from a primitive rude state to a civilized one. The main significance of this work lies in its main idea, which, however, is quite objectively supported by facts: a person, transferred to a deserted island, must, as if by himself, recreate the entire culture with all stages of its development. As for the purely literary merit of Robinson, here the author with brilliant success applied in practice that “realism of fantasy”, able to make the most incredible believable, which constitutes his distinctive quality as a fiction writer who is an innovator in England on this path.
He recounts the strange adventures of his hero as true artist. “Under his hand, the romantic ceases to be a novel; it becomes an actual, undoubtedly true story, which we follow step by step with full participation. Amazing art with which the author achieved this compelling probability of the story lies in the subtlety and naturalness psychological image characters and in extremely animated painting of details.” Although the plot of “Robinson” reproduces the actual story of A. Selkirk on the island of Juan Fernandez, there is also an autobiographical element in its idea: being a secret agent of the government that he had recently attacked, Defoe felt deeply alone and in constant danger. "Robinson" was translated into all European and many non-European languages and even in the 19th century caused many imitations ( Robinsonade).
Daniel Defoe's other novels of horror and adventure, written partly after the incredible success of Robinson (for example, Captain Singleton), are almost completely forgotten. Defoe continued his journalistic activity until 1726 under own name, perfectly describing the life of the then middle and lower classes. Later he resorted to a pseudonym and fell into a strange fear, apparently into a persecution mania. Last days Defoe spent his life in a miserable hut at an inn, due to the fact that his son betrayed his trust and completely ruined him and his entire family.
The future writer was born on April 26, 1660 in the English city of Bristol, where his father, James Faw, had a small trading business.
The fictitious nobility and ancient (supposedly Norman) origin, later invented by Daniel, gave the right to join the common people “Fo” - the particles “De”. Later, the future writer would call himself “Mr. De Foe,” and continuous writing surnames will happen even later. Composed by Daniel Defoe, the family coat of arms will consist of three fierce griffins against a background of red and gold lilies and next to the Latin motto, which reads: “Worthy and proud of praise.”
When Defoe was twelve years old, he was sent to school, where he stayed until he was sixteen.
His father tried to give his only son an education so that he could become a priest. Daniel was educated in a closed educational institution, called Newington Academy. It was something like a seminary, where they taught not only theology, but also quite wide circle subjects - geography, astronomy, history, foreign languages. It was there that the boy's abilities were noticed. Daniel not only immediately became the first foreign languages, but also turned out to be a very talented polemicist.
However, studying at the academy did not at all contribute to strengthening faith in young man; on the contrary, the further he went, the more he experienced disappointment in the Catholic faith, and the desire to become a priest disappeared.
Upon leaving Newington Academy, he became a clerk for a merchant, who promised to make Daniel a participant in his business in a few years. Daniel performed his duties conscientiously. He traveled to Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Holland. However, he soon became tired of trading, although it brought good profits.
Subsequently, Defoe himself was the owner of a hosiery production, and later - the manager, and then the owner of a large brick and tile factory, but went bankrupt. Defoe was an entrepreneur with an adventurous streak.
At the age of twenty, Daniel Defoe joined the army of the Duke of Monmouth, who rebelled against his uncle, James Stuart, who pursued a pro-French policy during his reign. Jacob suppressed the uprising and dealt harshly with the rebels. And Daniel Defoe had to hide from persecution.
It is known that on the way between Harwich and Holland he was captured by Algerian pirates, but escaped. In 1684 Defoe married Mary Tuffley, who bore him eight children. His wife brought a dowry of £3,700, and for some time he could be considered a relatively wealthy man, but in 1692 both his wife’s dowry and his own savings were swallowed up by bankruptcy, which cost him £17,000.
Defoe became bankrupt after the sinking of his chartered ship. The case ended with another escape from the inevitable debtor's prison and wanderings in the Mint quarter - a haven for London criminals. Defoe lived secretly in Bristol under an assumed name, fearing officials who arrested debtors. Bankrupt Defoe could go out only on Sundays - on these days arrests were prohibited by law. The longer the ordinary bourgeois Daniel Faux plunged into the whirlpool of life, risking his fortune, social position, and sometimes even his life, the more thought-provoking facts, characters, situations, and problems the writer Defoe extracted from life.
Returning to England, Defoe, who by that time had become a Protestant, began to publish pamphlets directed against the Catholic Church. That is why in 1685, when the Protestant leader the Duke of Monmouth was executed and King James II ascended the throne, Defoe had to go into hiding and even leave England. True, the exile did not last long, because already in 1688 in England there was bourgeois revolution and William III became king, allowing Protestantism.
Since that time, Defoe has been part of the circle of famous English publicists. He writes pamphlets, short essays in poetry or prose on modern political and public issues, and even publishes its own newspaper, Review.
He was also one of the most active politicians of his time. Only literary creativity Defoe ensured his fame not only among his contemporaries, but also among subsequent generations. A talented publicist, pamphleteer and publisher, he, without officially holding any government position, at one time exercised great influence on the king and the government.
In his literary activities, Defoe proved himself to be a talented satirist and publicist. He wrote in different political topics. In one of his works, “Experience of Projects,” he proposes to improve communications, open banks, savings banks for the poor and insurance societies. The significance of his projects was enormous, considering that at that time almost nothing he proposed existed. The functions of banks were performed by money lenders and jewelers-money changers. The Bank of England, one of the centers of world financial capital at the present time, had just opened at that time.
Defoe gained especially wide popularity since the appearance of his pamphlet “The True Englishman.” Eighty thousand copies were sold semi-legally on the streets of London within a few days. The appearance of this pamphlet was due to the attacks of the aristocracy on King William III, who defended the interests of the bourgeoisie. The aristocrats attacked the king in particular because he was not an Englishman, but a foreigner who did not even speak English well. Defoe spoke in his defense and, not so much defending the king as attacking the aristocracy, argued that the ancient aristocratic families trace their origins to the Norman pirates, and the new ones - from the French footmen, hairdressers and tutors who poured into England during the Stuart restoration. After the publication of this pamphlet, Daniel Defoe became close friends with the king and provided enormous services to the English bourgeoisie in obtaining trade privileges and securing them by acts of parliament.
In 1702, Queen Anne ascended to the English throne, the last of the Stuarts to be influenced by the Conservative party. Defoe wrote his famous satirical pamphlet, The Surest Way to Get Rid of Dissenters. Protestant sectarians in England called themselves dissenters. In this pamphlet, the author advised parliament not to be shy with the innovators who were bothering it and to hang them all or send them to the galleys. At first, parliament did not understand the true meaning of the satire and were glad that Daniel Defoe directed his pen against the sectarians. Then someone figured out the real meaning of the satire.
Aristocrats and fanatical clergy took this satire seriously, and the advice to deal with dissidents by gallows was considered a revelation equal to the Bible. But when it became clear that Defoe had brought the arguments of the supporters of the ruling church to the point of absurdity and thereby completely discredited them, the church and the aristocracy considered themselves scandalized, achieved Defoe’s arrest and trial, by which he was sentenced to seven years in prison, a fine and three times pillory.
This medieval method of punishment was especially painful, since it gave the right to street onlookers and voluntary lackeys of the clergy and aristocracy to mock the convicted person. But the bourgeoisie turned out to be so strong that it managed to turn this punishment into a triumph for its ideologist: Defoe was showered with flowers. On the day of standing in the pillory, Defoe, who was in prison, managed to print “Hymn to the Pillory.” Here he trashes the aristocracy and explains why he was put to shame. The crowd sang this pamphlet in the streets and squares while Defoe's sentence was carried out.
Two years later, Defoe was released from prison. Although Defoe's pillorying turned into a show of enthusiastic support, his reputation suffered and the thriving tile business fell into complete disarray while the owner was in prison.
Poverty and possibly exile threatened. To avoid this, Defoe agreed to the Prime Minister's dubious offer to become a secret agent of the Conservative government and only outwardly remain an “independent” journalist. So it began double life writer. Defoe's role in the behind-the-scenes intrigues of his time is not entirely clear. But it is obvious that Defoe’s political chameleonism finds, if not justification, then an explanation in the peculiarities political life England. Both parties that alternated in power - the Tories and the Whigs - were equally unprincipled and self-interested. Defoe perfectly understood the essence of the parliamentary system: “I saw the underside of all parties. All this is appearance, mere pretense and disgusting hypocrisy... Their interests dominate their principles.” Defoe was also aware of how enslaved his people were, even though they lived in a country where there was a constitution. In his pamphlet “The Poor Man's Request,” he protested against the new deity - gold, before which the law is powerless: “English law is a web in which small flies get entangled, while large ones easily break through.”
Defoe was sent to Scotland on a diplomatic mission to prepare the way for the union of Scotland with England. He turned out to be a talented diplomat and brilliantly completed the task assigned to him. To do this, Defoe even had to write a book on economics, in which he substantiated the economic benefits of the future unification.
Upon his accession to the English throne of the House of Hanover, Daniel Defoe writes another poisonous article, for which Parliament awarded him a huge fine and imprisonment. This punishment forced him to leave forever political activity and devote himself exclusively to fiction.
His first novel about the adventures of Robinson, the full title of which is “The Life and Amazing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a sailor from York, who lived twenty-eight years in all alone on an uninhabited island off the coast of America, near the mouth of the Orinoco River, where he was thrown out by a shipwreck, during which the entire crew of the ship, except him, died, with an account of his unexpected liberation by pirates, written by himself,” Defoe wrote at the age of 59.
The first edition of Robinson Crusoe was published in London on April 25, 1719, without the name of the author. Defoe passed off this work as a manuscript left by the hero of the story himself. The writer did this more out of necessity than out of calculation. The book promised good sales, and Defoe was, of course, interested in its material success. However, he understood that his name as a journalist who writes sharp journalistic articles and pamphlets would more likely harm the success of the book than attract attention to it. That’s why he initially hid his authorship, waiting until the book gained unprecedented fame.
In his novel, Defoe reflected a concept that was shared by many of his contemporaries. He showed that the main quality of any personality is intelligent activity in natural conditions. And only she can preserve the humanity in a person. It is Robinson's strength of spirit that attracts the younger generation.
The popularity of the novel was so great that the writer published a continuation of the story of his hero, and a year later he added to it a story about Robinson’s journey to Russia.
The works about Robinson were followed by other novels - “The Adventures of Captain Singleton”, “Moll Flanders”, “Notes of the Plague Year”, “Colonel Jacques” and “Roxanne”. Currently, his numerous works are known only to a narrow circle of specialists, but Robinson Crusoe, read both in major European centers and in the most remote corners of the globe, continues to be republished in a huge number copies. Occasionally, Captain Singleton is also republished in England.
“Robinson Crusoe” is the brightest example of the so-called adventurous sea genre, the first manifestations of which can be found in English literature of the 16th century. The development of this genre, which reached its maturity in the 18th century, was determined by the development of English merchant capitalism.
Since the 16th century, England has become the main colonial country, and the bourgeoisie and bourgeois relations are developing at the fastest pace in it. The ancestors of "Robinson Crusoe", like other novels of this genre, can be considered descriptions of authentic travels, claiming to be accurate and not artistic. It is very likely that the immediate impetus for the writing of “Robinson Crusoe” was one such work - “Travels Around the World from 1708 to 1711 by Captain Woods Rogers” - which tells how a certain sailor Selkirk, a Scot by birth, lived on an uninhabited island for over four years.
The story of Selkirk, who actually existed, caused a lot of noise at that time and was, of course, known to Defoe. The appearance of travel descriptions is due, first of all, to production and economic necessity, the need to acquire skills and experience in navigation and colonization. These books were used as guides. They were corrected geographical maps, a judgment was made about the economic and political profitability of acquiring one or another colony.
Maximum precision reigned in such works. The documentary travel genre, even before the appearance of Robinson Crusoe, showed a tendency to move into the artistic genre. In Robinson Crusoe this process of changing the genre through the accumulation of elements of fiction was completed. Defoe uses the style of the Travels, and their features, which had a certain practical significance, in Robinson Crusoe they become literary device: Defoe's language is also simple, precise, protocol. Specific techniques of artistic writing, the so-called poetic figures and tropes, are completely alien to him.
In “Travel” one cannot find, for example, “an endless sea”, but only an exact indication of longitude and latitude in degrees and minutes; the sun does not rise in some “apricot fog”, but at 6:37 am; the wind does not “caress” the sails, is not “light-winged”, but blows from the northeast; they are not compared, for example, in whiteness and firmness with the breasts of young women, but are described, as in textbooks of nautical schools. The reader's impression of the complete reality of Robinson's adventures is due to this style of writing. Defoe interrupts the narrative form with a dramatic dialogue (Crusoe's conversation with Friday and the sailor Atkins), Defoe introduces into the fabric of the novel a diary and an office book entry, where good is recorded in debit, evil in credit, and the remainder is still a solid asset.
In his descriptions, Defoe is always precise to the smallest detail. We learn that it takes Crusoe 42 days to make a board for a shelf, a boat - 154 days, the reader moves with him step by step in his work and, as it were, overcomes difficulties and suffers failures with him. No matter where on the globe Crusoe finds himself, everywhere he looks at his surroundings through the eyes of the owner, the organizer. In this work, with the same calmness and tenacity, he tars the ship and pours hot brew on the savages, breeds barley and rice, drowns extra kittens and destroys cannibals who threaten his cause. All this is done as part of normal daily work. Crusoe is not cruel, he is humane and fair in the world of bourgeois justice.
The first part of Robinson Crusoe was sold in several editions at once. Defoe captivated readers with the simplicity of his descriptions of real travel and the richness of his fiction. But Robinson Crusoe never enjoyed wide popularity among the aristocracy. The children of the aristocracy were not brought up on this book. But "Crusoe", with its idea of the rebirth of man through work, has always been the favorite book of the bourgeoisie, and entire educational systems are built on this "Erziehungsroman". Even Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his "Emile" recommends "Robinson Crusoe" as the only work on which youth should be brought up.
For us, Robinson, first of all, is a wonderful creator and hard worker. We admire him; even those episodes where Robinson burns clay pots, invents scarecrows, tames goats, and roasts the first piece of meat seem poetic. We see how a frivolous and self-willed young man turns under the influence of work into a seasoned, strong, fearless man, which has great educational significance.
Not only for his contemporaries, but also in the memory of all subsequent generations, Daniel Defoe remained, first of all, as the creator of this amazing book, which is still extremely popular all over the world.
Daniel Defoe can be considered one of the most prolific English writers, who, as has now been established, authored about four hundred separately published works, not counting the many hundreds of poems, polemical and journalistic articles, pamphlets, etc., published by him in periodicals. Defoe's creative energy was exceptional and almost unparalleled for his country and time.
The influence of Defoe's novel on European literature is not limited to the “Robinsonade” he generated. It is both wider and deeper. With his work, Defoe introduced the subsequently extremely popular motif of simplification, the loneliness of man in the bosom of nature, the beneficial nature of communication with it for his moral improvement. This motif was developed by Rousseau and varied many times by his followers (Bernardin de Saint Pierre and others).
The technique of the Western European novel also owes a lot to Robinson. Defoe's art of depicting characters, his ingenuity expressed in the use of new situations - all this was a great achievement. With his philosophical and other digressions, skillfully intertwined with the main presentation, Defoe raised the significance of the novel among readers, turning it from a book for entertaining pastime into a source of important ideas, into an engine of spiritual development. This technique was widely used in the 18th century.
In Russia, "Robinson Crusoe" became famous a hundred years later. extra years after its appearance in England. This is explained by the fact that the mass non-aristocratic reader in Russia appeared only from the second half of the 19th century century.
It is characteristic that Defoe's contemporary, Swift, became known in Russia from the middle of the 18th century, and the works of Byron and W. Scott were read almost simultaneously in England and Russia.
Towards the end of his life he found himself alone. Defoe lived out his days in a suburban outback. The children moved away - the sons traded in the City, the daughters were married. Defoe himself lived in the London slums that were familiar to him.
He died on April 24, 1731, at the age of 70. The compassionate Miss Brox, the mistress of the house where Defoe lived, buried him with her own money. Newspapers devoted short obituaries to him, mostly of a mocking nature, in the most flattering of which he was honored to be called “one of the greatest citizens of the Grub Street Republic,” that is, the London street where the then greyhound writers and rhymers lived. A white tombstone was placed on Defoe's grave. Over the years, it became overgrown, and it seemed that the memory of Daniel Defoe - a free citizen of the city of London - was covered with the grass of oblivion. More than a hundred years have passed. And time, whose judgment the writer so feared, retreated before his great creations. When Christian World magazine in 1870 appealed to “the boys and girls of England” with a request to send money to build a granite monument on Defoe’s grave (the old slab was split by lightning), thousands of admirers, including adults, responded to this call.
In the presence of the descendants of the great writer, the opening of a granite monument took place, on which was carved: “In memory of the author of Robinson Crusoe.”