Daniel Defoe

Published in 1879, this biography upholds the image of Defoe as a colourful, outspoken and influential polemicist.

Published in 1879, Minto's biography of Defoe (c. 1659–1731) represents an achievement in literary scholarship as well as a portrait of a colourful polemicist. Spanning Defoe's life from the passions of his youth to his 'later journalistic labours', this account upholds his image as an outspoken and influential writer.Published in the first series of English Men of Letters in 1879, a time when a complete edition of Daniel Defoe's works was yet to be collated, this biograhical account by William Minto (1845–93) was a significant achievement in literary scholarship as well as an engaging portrait of a colourful and outspoken polemicist. Himself a journalist and essayist for the pioneering Pall Mall Gazette and the Daily News, Minto combines the critical insight of a literary scholar with the empathy and understanding of a fellow writer. Spanning the novelist's entire life (c. 1659–1731), from the passions of his youth to the publication of Robinson Crusoe, his 'later journalistic labours' and the impact of literary success, this biography tells how Defoe disproved the rule that the lives of men of letters are rarely eventful.