Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe (c. 1660–1731), an English writer, journalist, merchant, and political commentator, was born around 1660 in London, where he died on April 24, 1731. He is considered one of the founders of the English realistic novel and a significant figure in early 18th-century literature. His work is characterized by adventure, individualism, social criticism, and an interest in human resourcefulness.

He was born Daniel Foe into the family of a Presbyterian merchant. He engaged in trade, travel, and political writing, frequently running into trouble due to financial difficulties and conflicts with the authorities. His satirical pamphlet The Shortest-Way with the Dissenters (1702) resulted in a prison sentence. In 1704, he launched the periodical The Review, which played a key role in the development of English journalism.

He achieved worldwide fame with the novel Robinson Crusoe (1719), the story of a castaway living for years on a desert island. Through the protagonist's struggle for survival, Defoe explores themes of labor, perseverance, faith, self-reliance, and the relationship between man and nature. The novel became a classic of adventure literature and inspired numerous literary and film adaptations.

Around the same time, he published Captain Singleton (1720), a novel about maritime adventures and piracy. In the work Moll Flanders (1722), he depicts the life of a woman who, faced with poverty and social constraints, employs various means to survive.

The novel A Journal of the Plague Year (1722) offers a compelling account of the Great Plague epidemic in London in 1665, combining historical facts, a documentary approach, and literary fiction. Other notable works include Colonel Jack (1722), Roxana (1724), and the travelogue A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724–1727).

Defoe’s style is characterized by simple storytelling, a wealth of detail, realism, and a convincing portrayal of everyday life. His characters often grapple with moral dilemmas, social inequalities, and the struggle for survival.

Through his novels, Defoe contributed to the development of modern narrative realism, and Robinson Crusoe has remained one of the most famous and widely translated works of world literature.