DANIEL DEFOE
The author of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe, was born into a family who were Dissenters*,
people who did not believe in certain practices of the Church of England. Young Daniel was brought
up in the strict yet independent beliefs of the Dissenters. At 14 he was sent to a Dissenters' academy.
In addition to the traditional Latin and Greek, he studied French, Italian, Spanish, and history and
became especially well-educated in geography. He studied for the ministry, but instead of becoming a
priest, in 1685 he went into business. Engaged in foreign trade, he visited France and lived in Spain
for a time. Meanwhile he was writing and speculating financially, but Defoe was more interested in
writing than in conducting business. His lively mind was taken up with problems of the day. In
pamphlets, verse and periodicals, he called for reforms and advances in religious practices,
economics, social welfare and politics. In his "Essay on Projects", he suggested a national bank, as
well as ideas to help reform bankruptcy laws, asylums and academies of learning. He stressed the
need for tolerance, often using satire for emphasis. In 1702 he wrote a pamphlet titled "The Shortest
Way with Dissenters", satirizing the persecution of Dissenters. The government arrested him. After
some months in prison, he was released through the influence of Robert Harley, a statesman who
became his patron. In 1704, Defoe started The Review, a periodical. It was the first of many such
periodicals with which Defoe was connected-forerunners of the modern newspaper. As people of that
era did not care for fiction, Defoe wrote "true histories" of pirates and thieves, spicing facts with his
own imagination. In 1719 he published Robinson Crusoe, which was drawn from the experiences and
memoirs of a British sailor, Alexander Selkirk.
*An English Protestant who dissents is some way from Church of England Dogma
EXERCISE 1: Find words or phrases in the passage which mean the same as:
COLUMN A COLUMN B
a) the work done by an official religious person; a
religious career
b) involved
c) buy and sell goods or stock and shares in the
hope of making a profit through changes in
their value
d) a small book with a paper cover, usually
containing information on a specific subject
e) poetry; writing arranged in lines, usually with a
regular rhythm or rhyme scheme
f) magazine, etc., that is published at regular
intervals
g) the good health, happiness or comfort of a
whole community (phrase)
h) the state of being unable to pay debts in full
i) a hospital for the care of mentally ill people
j) the art or practice of mocking people or making
them appear ridiculous in order to show how
foolish, wicked or incompetent they are
k) the treating of somebody in a cruel way,
especially because of their race, their political
or religious beliefs, etc.
I) a person who gives money or support to a
person, an organization, a cause or an activity
m) something that prepares the way for the
coming of something else
n) a period in history starting from a particular
time or event, or having particular
characteristics
o) a person on a ship who attacks and robs other
ships at sea
p) add a different element; give interest or variety
to something
q) a written account of someone's life and
experiences
300 • ELS