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Daniel Defoe: Master of Fictions : His Life and Ideas by Maximillian E. Novak (2001, Hardcover)

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About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherOxford University Press, Incorporated

ISBN-100198126867

ISBN-139780198126867

eBay Product ID (ePID)1831144

Product Key Features

Book TitleDaniel Defoe: Master of Fictions : His Life and Ideas

Number of Pages768 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2001

TopicGeneral, European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh

IllustratorYes

GenreLiterary Criticism, Biography & Autobiography

AuthorMaximillian E. Novak

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1.9 in

Item Weight43 Oz

Item Length9.3 in

Item Width6.2 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2002-276404

ReviewsNovak brings to his story of Defoe an encyclopedic knowledge of the economic, political, religious, and literary history of the period in which his subject lived. This enables him to present Defoe's life and ideas in their historical context with an informed and insightful perspective., 'a clear enough picture of the brilliant, mercurial and persuasive scribbler, well ahead of his age, who anticipated the feminist movement by about 200 years and had the cheek to suggest that a good writer didn't need to know Latin'Sunday Telegraph, 'over the past year I've had great joy reading Daniel Defoe Master ofFictions'Tom Paulin, Books of the Year, The Observer, 'Novak is awesomely in command of his source material. His book gives a wide picture of Defoe's life and of the political, social and economic realities of the late 17th and early 18th centuries.'Diana Souhami, The Independent d, scrupulous and intelligent, and gives a finely tuned portrait of an ambitious man often living against the flow of his world but illuminating it with extraordinary historical perspective. Jackie Wullschalger, Financial Times d, Daniel Defoe: Master of fictions is a sturdy account of the man often credited with being Britains first novelist. But, as Maximillian E. Novak shows in this scholarly and meticulous book, Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders and Roxana are far from being the only reasons to read about Defoe's life.Everything about him, from his loving family life to his pragmatic support of the social and political Establishment which best served his interests, strikes one as utterly modern. As indeed, does his fatal love of luxury goods. Thank heavens he never had a Barclaycard. Kathryn Hughes, Book of theWeek, Mail on Sunday 22 April 2001, scrupulous and intelligent, and gives a finely tuned portrait of anambitious man often living against the flow of his world but illuminating itwith extraordinary historical perspective. Jackie Wullschalger, Financial Timesd, Daniel Defoe: Master of fictions is a sturdy account of the man oftencredited with being Britains first novelist. But, as Maximillian E. Novak showsin this scholarly and meticulous book, Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders and Roxanaare far from being the only reasons to read about Defoe's life. Everything abouthim, from his loving family life to his pragmatic support of the social andpolitical Establishment which best served his interests, strikes one as utterlymodern. As indeed, does his fatal love of luxury goods. Thank heavens he neverhad a Barclaycard. Kathryn Hughes, Book of the Week, Mail on Sunday 22 April2001, 'Novak is awesomely in command of his source material. His book gives awide picture of Defoe's life and of the political, social and economic realitiesof the late 17th and early 18th centuries.'Diana Souhami, The Independent d, "A must, not only for fans of 18th-century literature, but for students of the political, social and religious history of the period as well."-- The Economist, Novak presents his narrative in an engaging and graceful prose style that renders the mass of material he discusses easily accessible and comprehensible ... Novak is to be complimented in producing without question the most definitive life of Defoe in the last 270 years. It will stand as the benchmark of Defoe biographies for the twenty-first century. In sum, Novak's Daniel Defoe: Master of Fictions is a signal scholarly achievement, a monumental capstone to his distinguished career as a Defoe scholar., "A must, not only for fans of 18th-century literature, but for students of the political, social and religious history of the period as well."--The Economist, 'over the past year I've had great joy reading Daniel Defoe Master of Fictions'Tom Paulin, Books of the Year, The Observer, ... a major publishing event: it represents the first authoritative biography of Defoe in the new millennium as well as a magnum opus by the leading Defoe scholar of the past forty years.

Table Of ContentList of IllustrationsAbbreviationsPreface1. After the Revolution2. The education of a Dissenter3. Meditation of matters spiritual and secular4. Marriage and rebellion5. Financial woes and recovery6. Propagandist for William III7. The True-Born Englishman and other satires8. An age of plot and deceit9. From pilloried libeller to Government propagandist10. 'Writing history sheet by sheet': Defoe, The Review11. From public journalist to lunar philosopher12. Defoe as spy and Whig propagandist13. A 'true spy' in Scotland14. In limbo between causes and masters15. Journalism and history in 'an age of mysteries and paradoxes'16. How to sell out while keeping one's integrity (somewhat) intact in that 'Lunatick Age'17. These dangerous times18. 'A miserable divided nation'19. A change of monarchs20. Times when honest men must reserve themselves for better fortunes21. Corrector general of the press22. The year before Robinson Crusoe: intellectual controversies and experiments in fiction23. Robinson Crusoe and the variability of life24. After Crusoe: pirate adventures, military memoirs, and the South Sea scandal25. Creating fictional worlds26. Describing Britain in the 1720s27. Enter Henry Baker28. Last productive years29. Sinking under the weight of afflictionWorks citedIndex

SynopsisImprisoned several times, reviled by enemies, hunted by murderous mobs, and yet sometimes fêted by the country's most powerful leaders, Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) led an extraordinarily exciting life. Above all, he was a creator of fictions. Examining his life from the perspective most important to the modern reader-his writing career-this biography illuminates the thought and personal experience that fed such masterpieces as Moll Flanders, Robinson Crusoe, and Roxana., Daniel Defoe led an exciting and indeed precarious life. A provocative pamphleteer and journalist, a spy and double agent, a revolutionary and a dreamer, he was variously hunted by mobs with murderous intent and treated as a celebrity by the most powerful leaders of the country. Imprisoned many times, pilloried and reviled by his enemies, through it all he managed to produce some of the most significant literature of the eighteenth century. Daniel Defoe: Master of Fictions is the first biography to view Defoe's complex life through the angle of vision that is most important to us as modern readers--his career as a writer. Maximillian Novak, a leading authority on Defoe, ranges from the writer's earliest collection of brief stories, which he presented to his future wife under the sobriquet Bellmour, to his Compleat English Gentleman , left unpublished at his death. Novak illuminates such works as Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders , novels that changed the course of fiction in their time and have remained towering classics to this day. And he reveals a writer who was a superb observer of his times--an age of dramatic historical, political, and social change. Indeed, through his many pamphlets, newspapers, books of travel, and works of fiction, Defoe commented on everything from birth control to the price of coal, and from flying machines to the dangers of the plague. Beautifully and authoritatively written, this is the first serious, full-scale biography of Defoe to appear in a decade. It gives us, for the first time, a full understanding of the thought and personal experience that lie behind some of the great works of English literature., Daniel Defoe, best known as the author of Robinson Crusoe, lived during a period of dramatic historical, political, and social change in Britain, and was by any standard a superb observer of his times. Through his pamphlets, newspapers, books of travel, and works of fiction he commented on anything and everything, from birth control to the price of coal, from flying machines to academies for women, from security for the aged to the dangers of the plague. In his fiction he created a type of vivid realism that powerfully influenced the development of the novel. The publication of works such as Robinson Crusoe are major events because they shape the ways in which we see our world, so that ever afterwards thoughts of desolation and desert islands immediately evoke Defoe's masterpiece. We should not be surprised: Defoe always wrote to make things happen. During his career as an author, he was a provocative pamphleteer, journalist, and poet; but when he was not writing, he was, at times, a spy and a double agent, a revolutionary and a dreamer. He was variously hunted by mobs with murderous intent and treated as a celebrity by the most powerful leaders of the country. Imprisoned four times or more, pilloried and reviled by his enemies, through it all he never lost confidence in his ability as a writer and thinker. Daniel Defoe: Master of Fictions is the first biography to view Defoe's complex life through the angle of vision that is most important to us as modern readers--his career as a writer. From his earliest collection of brief stories, which he presented to his future wife under the sobriquet Bellmour, to his Compleat English Gentleman, left unpublished at his death, Defoe was pre-eminently a creator of fictions. This life gives us, for the first time, a full understanding of the thought and personal experience that went into such great works as Crusoe, Moll Flanders, and Roxana., Daniel Defoe led an exciting and indeed precarious life. A provocative pamphleteer and journalist, a spy and double agent, a revolutionary and a dreamer, he was variously hunted by mobs with murderous intent and treated as a celebrity by the most powerful leaders of the country. Imprisoned many times, pilloried and reviled by his enemies, through it all he managed to produce some of the most significant literature of the eighteenth century. Daniel Defoe: Master of Fictions is the first biography to view Defoe's complex life through the angle of vision that is most important to us as modern readers--his career as a writer. Maximillian Novak, a leading authority on Defoe, ranges from the writer's earliest collection of brief stories, which he presented to his future wife under the sobriquet Bellmour, to his Compleat English Gentleman, left unpublished at his death. Novak illuminates such works as Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders, novels that changed the course of fiction in their time and have remained towering classics to this day. And he reveals a writer who was a superb observer of his times--an age of dramatic historical, political, and social change. Indeed, through his many pamphlets, newspapers, books of travel, and works of fiction, Defoe commented on everything from birth control to the price of coal, and from flying machines to the dangers of the plague. Beautifully and authoritatively written, this is the first serious, full-scale biography of Defoe to appear in a decade. It gives us, for the first time, a full understanding of the thought and personal experience that lie behind some of the great works of English literature.

LC Classification NumberPR3406.N68 2001