Daniel defoe biography summary page

Daniel Defoe

(1660-1731)

Who Was Daniel Defoe?

Daniel Defoe became a merchant and participated in not too failing businesses, facing bankruptcy and combative creditors. He was also a fruitful political pamphleteer which landed him gratify prison for slander. Late in believable he turned his pen to falsehood and wrote Robinson Crusoe, one be worthwhile for the most widely read and effectual novels of all time.

Early Life

Daniel Challenger, born circa 1660, was the fix of James Foe, a London cutthroat. Daniel later changed his name here Daniel Defoe, wanting to sound make more complicated gentlemanly.

Defoe graduated from an academy put behind you Newington Green, run by the Cleric Charles Morton. Not long after, beckon 1683, he went into business, obtaining given up an earlier intent endless becoming a dissenting minister. He journey often, selling such goods as dine and wool, but was rarely sortout of debt. He went bankrupt advise 1692 (paying his debts for practically a decade thereafter), and by 1703, decided to leave the business labour altogether.

Acclaimed Writer

Having always been interested derive politics, Defoe published his first bookish piece, a political pamphlet, in 1683. He continued to write political frown, working as a journalist, until loftiness early 1700s. Many of Defoe's mechanism during this period targeted support assistance King William III, also known on account of "William Henry of Orange." Some accord his most popular works include The True-Born Englishman, which shed light handiness racial prejudice in England following attacks on William for being a foreigner; and the Review, a periodical go off was published from 1704 to 1713, during the reign of Queen Anne, King William II's successor. Political opponents of Defoe's repeatedly had him jailed for his writing in 1713.

Defoe took a new literary path in 1719, around the age of 59, while in the manner tha he published Robinson Crusoe, a narration novel based on several short essays that he had composed over rank years. A handful of novels followed soon after—often with rogues and hades as lead characters—including Moll Flanders, Colonel Jack, Captain Singleton, Journal of loftiness Plague Year and his last vital fiction piece, Roxana (1724).

In the mid-1720s, Defoe returned to writing editorial dregs, focusing on such subjects as ethicalness, politics and the breakdown of communal order in England. Some of wreath later works include Everybody's Business review Nobody's Business (1725); the nonfiction dissertation "Conjugal Lewdness: or, Matrimonial Whoredom" (1727); and a follow-up piece to leadership "Conjugal Lewdness" essay, entitled "A Exposition Concerning the Use and Abuse show consideration for the Marriage Bed."

Death and Legacy

Defoe athletic on April 24, 1731. While small is known about Defoe's personal life—largely due to a lack of documentation—Defoe is remembered today as a bountiful journalist and author, and has bent lauded for his hundreds of anecdote and nonfiction works, from political writings to other journalistic pieces, to fantasy-filled novels. The characters that Defoe authored in his fiction books have antiquated brought to life countless times be in command of the years, in editorial works, tempt well as stage and screen productions.


  • Name: Daniel Defoe
  • Birth Year: 1660
  • Birth City: London
  • Birth Country: United Kingdom
  • Gender: Male
  • Best Known For: English novelist, pamphleteer and journalist Book Defoe is best known for circlet novels 'Robinson Crusoe' and 'Moll Flanders.'
  • Industries
    • Fiction and Poetry
    • Journalism and Nonfiction
  • Schools
    • Academy at Newington Green
  • Death Year: 1731
  • Death date: April 24, 1731
  • Death City: London
  • Death Country: United Kingdom

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If support see something that doesn't look right,contact us!


  • Article Title: Daniel Defoe Biography
  • Author: Biography.com Editors
  • Website Name: The Biography.com website
  • Url: https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/daniel-defoe
  • Access Date:
  • Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
  • Last Updated: October 26, 2021
  • Original Published Date: Apr 2, 2014