Concetti Chiave
- Daniel Defoe began his career in journalism, contributing to Whig papers and creating "The Review," which addressed religious, political, and economic issues.
- After being arrested due to his critical stance against Queen Anne, Defoe shifted allegiances and became a secret agent for the government.
- Defoe's novels, started later in his life, were fictional autobiographies emphasizing realism through detailed character introspection and episodic narratives.
- His writing style included retrospective first-person narration and a mix of detailed scenes with summarized passages, often focusing on isolated protagonists.
- Defoe's innovative approach to storytelling contributed significantly to the development of the realistic novel genre.
Daniel Defoe was born in 1660 in a family of Dissenters and was educated in the Dissenting Academy of Newington Green. He worked as an apprentice and then on his own but met two bankruptcies which he faced not only with legal actions but was by illicit doings. He started his career as a journalist writing for the Whig papers and his greatest achievement was a periodical, “The Review” which was published every two o three days and dealt with religious and political problems as well as economical interests. It also contained a moralistic and humorous section called “Advice from the Scandalous Club”.
When Queen Anne ascended to the throne, she didn’t appreciate Defoe’s critical attitude and had him arrested. In return to his freedom he denied his Whig’s ideas and became a secret agent for the new government. He started to write novels later in life, when he was already sixty, and in 1719 he published his first: “Robinson Crusoe”, the story of a restless man in search of his identity.
Defoe’s novels were fictional autobiographies full of biographical details and memories provided by main character which had the purpose to making the novel sound real. They were also characterized at the beginning by a preface by the author which also aimed to emphasize the realism of the story. His novels were structured as sequences of episodes that were linked together by the one protagonist. In fact, Defoe almost never revised his work, nor planned it, as his aim was that to publish a large amount of work, thing that he did at exceptional speed. Characteristic of Defoe was the use of retrospective first-person narration and the combination of full scenic presentations with passages of little detail summaries. His protagonists were usually isolated characters struggling for survival who were presented to the reader not from the outside, but from the inside by introspection and through their actions.
Thanks to its originality, Defoe’s novel laid the foundations for the development of the realistic novel.
Domande da interrogazione
- ¿Cuál fue el logro más destacado de Daniel Defoe en su carrera periodística?
- ¿Cómo influyó la ascensión de la Reina Ana en la vida de Defoe?
- ¿Qué características distintivas tenían las novelas de Defoe?
Su mayor logro fue el periódico "The Review", que se publicaba cada dos o tres días y abordaba problemas religiosos, políticos y económicos, además de incluir una sección moralista y humorística llamada "Advice from the Scandalous Club".
La Reina Ana no apreciaba la actitud crítica de Defoe, lo que llevó a su arresto. Para recuperar su libertad, Defoe negó sus ideas Whig y se convirtió en agente secreto del nuevo gobierno.
Las novelas de Defoe eran autobiografías ficticias con detalles biográficos, narradas en primera persona retrospectiva, y estructuradas en secuencias de episodios. Sus protagonistas eran personajes aislados que luchaban por sobrevivir, presentados desde su interior mediante la introspección y sus acciones.
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