Daniel Defoe

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Daniel Defoe, engraving by M. Van der Gucht, after a portrait by J. Taverner, first half of the 18th century.

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Daniel Defoe summary

Daniel Defoe

Q: What was Daniel Defoe’s family like?

Daniel Defoe’s father, James Foe, was a Nonconformist , or Dissenter, and a fairly prosperous tallow chandler (perhaps also, later, a butcher) of Flemish descent. By his middle 30s, Daniel was calling himself “Defoe,” probably reviving a variant of what may have been the original family name.

Q: What were Daniel Defoe’s jobs?

Daniel Defoe began his career as a merchant and trader, dealing in many commodities. He later became a writer, noted for his poems and political pamphlets. Defoe was 59 when he published his first novel, Robinson Crusoe , which brought him lasting fame.

Q: What is Daniel Defoe best known for?

Daniel Defoe is best known as the writer of the novels Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Moll Flanders (1722). During his lifetime he gained fame—and notoriety—for his poems, political pamphlets, and journalism.

English author

Written by Reginald P.C. Mutter

Fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Feb 29, 2024 • Article History

Daniel Defoe

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Category: Arts & Culture

Born:: 1660, London, Eng.

Died:: April 24, 1731, London (aged 71)

Notable Works:: “A Journal of the Plague Year”; “Colonel Jack”; “Hymn To The Pillory”; “Legion’s Memorial”; “Moll Flanders”; “Robinson Crusoe”; “Roxana”; “The Shortest-Way With the Dissenters”; “The True-Born Englishman”; “Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain”

Movement / Style:: realism

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What was Daniel Defoe’s family like?

What were Daniel Defoe’s jobs?

What is Daniel Defoe best known for?

Daniel Defoe (born 1660, London, Eng.—died April 24, 1731, London) was an English novelist, pamphleteer, and journalist, known as the author of Robinson Crusoe (1719–22) and Moll Flanders (1722). Defoe’s father, James Foe, was a hard-working and fairly prosperous tallow chandler (perhaps also, later, a butcher), of Flemish descent. By his middle 30s, Daniel was calling himself “Defoe,” probably reviving a variant of what may have been the original family name. As a Nonconformist, or Dissenter, Foe could not send his son to the University of Oxford or to Cambridge; he sent him instead to the excellent academy at Newington ...(100 of 2056 words)

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