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Literary Biography of Dafoe:
Born Daniel Foe, the son of James Foe, a butcher in the Stoke Newington neighbourhood of London, England, he would later add the aristocratic sounding "De" to his name as a nom de plume. He became a famous pamphleteer, journalist and novelist at a time of the birth of the novel in the English language, and thus fairly ranks as one of its progenitors. Dafoe's pamphleteering and political activities resulted in his arrest and placement in a pillory on July 31, 1703, principally on account of a pamphlet entitled "The Shortest Way with Dissenters", in which he ruthlessly satirised the High church Tories, purporting to argue for the extermination of dissenters. The publication of his poem "Hymn to the Pillory", however, caused his audience at the pillory to throw flowers instead of the customary harmful and noxious objects, and to drink to his health. After his three days in the pillory Dafoe went into Newgate Prison. Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, brokered his release in exchange for Dafoe's co-operation in acting as an intelligence agent for the Tories in the Tory ministry of 1710 to 1714. After the Tories fell from power with the death of Queen Anne, Dafoe continued doing intelligence work for the Whig government.[For the part of Dafoe's life that doesn't take such a literary lean…]
Critiques on Crusoe:
Dafoe's famous novel, Robinson Crusoe (1719), tells of a man's shipwreck on a desert island and his subsequent adventures. The author may have based his narrative on the true story of the shipwreck of Alexander Selkirk..
Full text and plot summary:
On my google ramblings to garnger information on the great Dafoe, Saleski’s name was repeatedly one of the most prominent. In his article The Strange Shipwreck of Robinson Crusoe, Zaleski speaks to us of what we are already half aware of: that to read Crusoe for this course is in fact to reread it. There are probably very few people alive and literate (and, granted, in a particular demographic) who are not familiar with the tale of Robinson Crusoe. However, as analysts, we are now urged to read this childrens tale, as Zaleski puts it, “with two sets of eyes” – those of maturity and youth. Saleski reaches an epiphany at the end of the first section of his article: “The single most important fact about this boy's adventure book is that it is not a boy's adventure book at all. It is, rather, a grown-up tale of a man's discovery of himself, civilization, and God.” His article is an in-depth analysis of what truly lies between the covers of Dafoe’s most famous novel, a veritable must-read to anyone studying the book, from any angle.
In this indepth biography, Zaleski takes us through a tour, not of Dafoe's life, or literary career, but almost of his psyche. in his article "A Paradoxical Genius", Zaleski shows us just what, in and about Dafoes life, lead him to pen a work as brilliant as Robinson Crusoe. not a very long article, and told in a light, biographical tone, this is a biography, yes, but one with a twist that's well worth reading.
An overview of the Story (Robinson Crusoe), interpretations, and a section on other real castaways, but it was the interpretations section i found most interesting. most salient was the concept of Crusoe as an "everyman" -- if only as a foil to The Man of Feeling, it's a must read.
Bibliography
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/arts/al0047.htmlhttp:/www.abacci.com/books/authorDetails.asp?authorID=299
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Defoe
http://www.bibliomania.com/0/0/17/31/frameset.html
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/arts/al0013.html
http://www.fact-index.com/r/ro/robinson_crusoe.html