Daniel Defoe had an eventful and adventurous life as a merchant, politician, spy and literary hack. He is one of the eighteenth century's most lively, innovative and important authors, famous not only for his novels, including Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, and Roxana, but for his extensive work in journalism, political polemic and conduct guides, and for his pioneering 'Tour through the Whole Island of Great Britain'. This volume surveys the wide range of Defoe's fiction and non-fiction, and assesses his importance as writer and thinker. Leading scholars discuss key issues in Defoe's novels, and show how the man who was once pilloried for his writings emerges now as a key figure in the literature and culture of the early eighteenth century.

Introduction John Richetti
1. Defoe: the man in the works Paula Backscheider
2. Defoe's political and religious journalism Maximillian Novak
3. Defoe, commerce, and empire Srinivas Aravamudan
4. Defoe and criminal fiction Hal Gladfelder
5. Money and character in Defoe's fiction Deidre Lynch
6. Defoe's Tour and the identity of Britain Pat Rogers
7. Defoe as narrative innovator John Richetti
8. Gender and fiction in Moll Flanders and Roxana Ellen Pollak
9. Defoe and London Cynthia Wall
10. Robinson Crusoe and the varieties of fictional experience Michael Seidel
11. Defoe: satirist and moralist John McVeagh
12. Defoe and poetic tradition J. Paul Hunter
Guide to further reading
Index.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], Literary studies: fiction, novelists & prose writers [DSK], Literary studies: general [DSB], Literature & literary studies [D]