The Cambridge Companion to Daniel Defoe

The Cambridge Companion to Daniel Defoe
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 267
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781139827751
ISBN-13 : 1139827758
Rating : 4/5 (51 Downloads)

Synopsis The Cambridge Companion to Daniel Defoe by : John Richetti

Daniel Defoe had an eventful and adventurous life as a merchant, politician, spy and literary hack. He is one of the eighteenth century's most lively, innovative and important authors, famous not only for his novels, including Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, and Roxana, but for his extensive work in journalism, political polemic and conduct guides, and for his pioneering 'Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain'. This volume surveys the wide range of Defoe's fiction and non-fiction, and assesses his importance as writer and thinker. Leading scholars discuss key issues in Defoe's novels, and show how the man who was once pilloried for his writings emerges now as a key figure in the literature and culture of the early eighteenth century.

Moll Flanders and Roxana

Moll Flanders and Roxana
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 492
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1978043384
ISBN-13 : 9781978043381
Rating : 4/5 (84 Downloads)

Synopsis Moll Flanders and Roxana by : Daniel Defoe

The Fortunes & Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders is a novel by Daniel Defoe, 1st published in 1722. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll, detailing her exploits from birth until old age. The novel's full title gives some insight into this & the outline of the plot: "The Fortunes & Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. Who was Born in Newgate, & during a Life of continu'd Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her own Brother), Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest, & died a Penitent. Written from her own Memorandums." Roxana (1724), Defoe's last and darkest novel, is the autobiography of a woman who has traded her virtue, at first for survival, and then for fame and fortune. Its narrator tells the story of her own 'wicked' life as the mistress of rich and powerful men. A resourceful adventuress, she is also an unforgiving analyst of her own susceptibilities, who tells us of the price she pays for her successes. Endowed with many seductive skills, she is herself seduced: by money, by dreams of rank, and by the illusion that she can escape her own past. Unlike Defoe's other penitent anti-heroes, however, she fails to triumph over these weaknesses. Roxana's fame lies not only in the heroine's 'vast variety of fortunes', but in her attempts to understand the sometimes bitter lessons of her life as a 'Fortunate Mistress'. Defoe's achievement was to invent, in 'Roxana', a gripping story-teller as well as a gripping story.

Moll Flanders Illustrated

Moll Flanders Illustrated
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 414
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9798704917861
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 (61 Downloads)

Synopsis Moll Flanders Illustrated by : Daniel Defoe

Moll Flanders is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1722. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll, detailing her exploits from birth until old age.By 1721, Defoe had become a recognised novelist, with the success of Robinson Crusoe in 1719. His political work was tapering off at this point, due to the fall of both Whig and Tory party leaders with whom he had been associated; Robert Walpole was beginning his rise, and Defoe was never fully at home with the Walpole group. Defoe's Whig views are nevertheless evident in the story of Moll, and the novel's full title gives some insight into this and the outline of the plot

Defoe and Fictional Time

Defoe and Fictional Time
Author :
Publisher : University of Georgia Press
Total Pages : 292
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780820337715
ISBN-13 : 0820337714
Rating : 4/5 (15 Downloads)

Synopsis Defoe and Fictional Time by : Paul K. Alkon

Defoe and Fictional Time shows Defoe's relevance to issues now central to criticism of the novel; relationships between narrative time and clock time, the influence of time concepts shared by writers and their audience, and above all the questions of how fiction shapes the phenomenal time of reading. Paul K. Alkon offers first a study of time in Defoe's fiction, with glances at Richardson, Fielding, and Sterne; and second a theoretical discussion of time in fiction. Arguing that eighteenth-century views of history account for the strange chronologies in Captain Singleton, Colonel Jack, Moll Flanders, and Roxana, Alkon explores Defoe's innovative use of narrative sequences, frequency, spatial form, chronology, settings, tempo, and the reader's cumulative memories of a text. Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year is the first portrayal of a public duration—passing time shared by an entire population during a crisis—ranking Defoe among the most creative writers who have explored the way in which fictional time may influence reading time.

The Politics of Motherhood

The Politics of Motherhood
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 282
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0521551749
ISBN-13 : 9780521551748
Rating : 4/5 (49 Downloads)

Synopsis The Politics of Motherhood by : Toni Bowers

An examination of the eighteenth-century social and cultural struggle to develop new ideas for virtuous motherhood.

Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel

Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel
Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages : 248
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781118621103
ISBN-13 : 1118621107
Rating : 4/5 (03 Downloads)

Synopsis Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel by : David H. Richter

Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel is a lively exploration of the evolution of the English novel from 1688-1815. A range of major works and authors are discussed along with important developments in the genre, and the impact of novels on society at the time. The text begins with a discussion of the “rise of the novel” in the long eighteenth century and various theories about the economic, social, and ideological changes that caused it. Subsequent chapters examine ten particular novels, from Oroonoko and Moll Flanders to Tom Jones and Emma, using each one to introduce and discuss different rhetorical theories of narrative. The way in which books developed and changed during this period, breaking new ground, and influencing later developments is also discussed, along with key themes such as the representation of gender, class, and nationality. The final chapter explores how this literary form became a force for social and ideological change by the end of the period. Written by a highly experienced scholar of English literature, this engaging textbook guides readers through the intricacies of a transformational period for the novel.

Defoe & Spiritual Autobiography

Defoe & Spiritual Autobiography
Author :
Publisher : Ardent Media
Total Pages : 220
Release :
ISBN-10 :
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 ( Downloads)

Synopsis Defoe & Spiritual Autobiography by : George A. Starr

The Description for this book, Defoe and Spiritual Autobiography, will be forthcoming.

Writing British Infanticide

Writing British Infanticide
Author :
Publisher : University of Delaware Press
Total Pages : 300
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0874138191
ISBN-13 : 9780874138191
Rating : 4/5 (91 Downloads)

Synopsis Writing British Infanticide by : Jennifer Thorn

Writing British Infanticide tracks the ways that the circulation of narratives of child-murder in eighteenth- and nineteenth century Britain shaped perceptions and punishments of the crime and, more elusively, hierarchies of class and gender. The essays brought together in this volume pose the question: How are we to understand the proliferation of writing about child-murder in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain, the overlap of an expanding print culture with the widely evident narration of this particular crime? Further, what are we to make of the recurrent and remarkably consistent representation of child-murder as the special province of unmarried, desparate women? Focussing on specific instances of the transformative effect of the circulation of narratives of child-murder, 'Writing British Infanticide' takes as its purview not child-murder per se but the ways that writing about its credentialed and differentiated writers in different, but often overlapping, genres and moments in a key period in the expansion of print. Jennifer Thorn is an Assistant Professor of English at Duke University.

Women, Work, and Clothes in the Eighteenth-Century Novel

Women, Work, and Clothes in the Eighteenth-Century Novel
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 271
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781107035003
ISBN-13 : 1107035007
Rating : 4/5 (03 Downloads)

Synopsis Women, Work, and Clothes in the Eighteenth-Century Novel by : Chloe Wigston Smith

This book charts the novel's vibrant engagement with clothes, examining how fiction revises and reshapes material objects within its pages.

A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain

A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain
Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
Total Pages : 444
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0300049803
ISBN-13 : 9780300049800
Rating : 4/5 (03 Downloads)

Synopsis A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain by : Daniel Defoe

Observations on the principal cities, ports and geographical features, customs, manners, and inhabitants of early eighteenth-century Britain