Daniel Defoe
Format: Paperback
ISBN13: 9780217818636
Paperback|9780217818636
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III FIRST CONTROVERSIAL PAMPHLETS?1697-1700 THE year of Defoe's first important book, 1697, is also the year in which he first began clearly to exhibit his powers as a pamphleteer. He continued to write tracts in 1698; then, doubtless owing to preoccupation with business, he allowed a year to pass without employing his pen in any way that can now be traced; then, toward the close of 1700, that is, with the beginning of the new century, he began a career as journalist and miscellaneous writer, that lasted until his death some thirty years later, and is apparently unrivaled in quantity and variety, perhaps even in quality of production. Three main topics seem to have attracted his attention in 1697-98. These were the controversy whether King William should be allowed to keep an effective standing army, the scandal caused by the practice of occasional conformity, and the efforts making for the suppression of flagrant vice. It would be a waste of time to enumerate such ephemeral writings, much more to discuss them at any length, but it may at least be said that these earliest tracts illustrate excellently Defoe's talents as a pamphleteer. As a supporter of the king's demand for adequate troops, he showed himself moderate in tone?something rare in those days of partisan vituperation?well informed in history and constitutional law, and admirably endowed with that power of appeal to the common sense of the aver- ] age reader that is so essential to the true journalist. He was direct and persuasive in style, sensible, downright, fond of illustrative anecdotes, highly loyal, moral, and firmly pious, in short, nearly every thing that the middle-class Englishman is himself and wishes others to be. In these respects his quali- fications as a journalist were clearly unmatc...
| ISBN-13 | 9780217818636 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 0217818633 |
| Weight | 0.61 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 9.00 x 6.00 x 0.42 In |
| List Price | $23.28 |
| Format | Paperback |
|---|---|
| Pages | 182 pages |
| Publisher | |
| Published On | 2009-08-01 |
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