Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe was born about 1660 in London, the son of a Dissenting tallow chandler. Meant for the ministry, he went into trade instead, dealing in hosiery, wine, tobacco and bricks, went bankrupt more than once and was in debt all his life. He took part in a rising against James II, wrote hundreds of political pamphlets, was pilloried and imprisoned for a satire, and later worked as a government spy. He began writing novels only when nearly sixty; Robinson Crusoe was an instant success, and in the next few years he produced Moll Flanders, A Journal of the Plague Year and many more. He is regarded as one of the founders of the English novel, and used nearly two hundred pen names in his lifetime.