Editing Daniel Defoe (section)

== Writing ==
As many as 545 titles have been attributed to Defoe, including satirical poems, political and religious pamphlets, and volumes.

=== Pamphleteering and prison ===
[[File:Daniel Defoe in the Pillory.jpg|thumb|upright=1.54|''Daniel Defoe in the Pillory'' ([[Eyre Crowe (painter)|Eyre Crowe]], 1862)]]

Defoe's first notable publication was ''[[An Essay Upon Projects]]'', a series of proposals for social and economic improvement, published in 1697. From 1697 to 1698, he defended the right of King [[William III of England|William III]] to a [[standing army]] during disarmament, after the [[Treaty of Ryswick]] (1697) had ended the [[Nine Years' War]] (1688–1697). His most successful poem, ''[[The True-Born Englishman]]'' (1701), defended William against [[xenophobic]] attacks from his political enemies in England, and English anti-immigration sentiments more generally. In 1701, Defoe presented the ''Legion's Memorial'' to [[Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer|Robert Harley]], then [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons]]—and his subsequent employer—while flanked by a guard of sixteen gentlemen of quality. It demanded the release of the Kentish petitioners, who had asked Parliament to support the king in an imminent war against France.

The death of [[William III of England|William III]] in 1702 once again created a political upheaval, as the king was replaced by [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]] who immediately began her offensive against [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformists]].<ref name="autogenerated2006"/> Defoe was a natural target, and his pamphleteering and political activities resulted in his arrest and placement in a [[pillory]] on 31 July 1703, principally on account of his December 1702 pamphlet entitled ''[[The Shortest Way with the Dissenters|The Shortest-Way with the Dissenters; Or, Proposals for the Establishment of the Church]]'', purporting to argue for their extermination.<ref>{{cite web |author=Defoe |first=Daniel |year=1702 |title=The shortest way with the Dissenters |url=http://www.bartleby.com/27/12.html |access-date=18 September 2010}}</ref> In it, he ruthlessly satirised both the [[high church]] [[Tories (British political party)|Tories]] and those [[Dissenter]]s who hypocritically practised so-called "[[occasional conformity]]", such as his [[Stoke Newington]] neighbour Sir [[Thomas Abney]]. It was published anonymously, but the true authorship was quickly discovered and Defoe was arrested.<ref name="autogenerated2006"/> He was charged with seditious libel and found guilty in a trial at the [[Old Bailey]] in front of the notoriously sadistic judge [[Salathiel Lovell]].<ref name="Letters to John Law"/> Lovell sentenced him to a punitive fine of 200 [[Mark (currency)|marks]] (£336 then, £{{Format price|{{Inflation|UK|336|1703}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}{{Inflation/fn|UK}}), to public humiliation in a [[pillory]], and to an indeterminate length of imprisonment which would only end upon the discharge of the punitive fine.<ref name="Letters to John Law"/> According to legend, the publication of his poem ''Hymn to the Pillory'' caused his audience at the pillory to throw flowers instead of the customary harmful and noxious objects and to drink to his health. The truth of this story is questioned by most scholars,{{why?|date=January 2024}} although [[John Robert Moore]] later said that "no man in England but Defoe ever stood in the pillory and later rose to eminence among his fellow men".<ref name=rich/>
{{Quote box
 |quote = "Wherever God erects a house of prayer<br/>the Devil always builds a chapel there;<br/>And 't will be found, upon examination,<br/>the latter has the largest congregation."
 |source = – Defoe's ''The True-Born Englishman'', 1701
}}

After his three days in the pillory, Defoe went into [[Newgate Prison]]. [[Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer]], brokered his release in exchange for Defoe's cooperation as an intelligence agent for the Tories. In exchange for such cooperation with the rival political side, Harley paid some of Defoe's outstanding debts, improving his financial situation considerably.<ref name="autogenerated2006"/>

Within a week of his release from prison, Defoe witnessed the [[Great Storm of 1703]], which raged through the night of 26/27 November. It caused severe damage to London and [[Bristol]], uprooted millions of trees, and killed more than 8,000 people, mostly at sea. The event became the subject of Defoe's ''[[The Storm (Daniel Defoe)|The Storm]]'' (1704), which includes a collection of witness accounts of the tempest.<ref>''The Storm: or, a collection of the most remarkable casualties and disasters which happen'd in the late dreadful tempest, both by sea and land''. London: 1704.</ref> Many regard it as one of the world's first examples of modern journalism.<ref>[[John J. Miller (journalist)|John J. Miller]] (13 August 2011) [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111904800304576476142821212156?KEYWORDS=masterpiece "Writing Up a Storm"], ''The Wall Street Journal''.</ref>

In the same year, he set up his [[Periodical literature|periodical]] ''A Review of the Affairs of France'',<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Morgan |first=William Thomas |date=1940 |title=Defoe's Review as a Historical Source |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1874898 |journal=The Journal of Modern History |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=221–232 |issn=0022-2801}}</ref> which supported the [[Harley Ministry]], chronicling the events of the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] (1702–1714). The ''Review'' ran three times a week without interruption until 1713. Defoe was amazed that a man as gifted as Harley left vital state papers lying in the open, and warned that he was almost inviting an unscrupulous clerk to commit treason; his warnings were fully justified by the [[William Gregg (clerk and spy)|William Gregg]] affair.

When Harley was ousted from the ministry in 1708, Defoe continued writing the ''Review'' to support [[Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin|Godolphin]], then again to support Harley and the [[Tories (British political party)|Tories]] in the Tory ministry of 1710–1714. The Tories fell from power with the death of [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]], but Defoe continued doing intelligence work for the [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]] government, writing "Tory" pamphlets that undermined the Tory point of view.<ref name="autogenerated2006"/>

Not all of Defoe's pamphlet writing was political. One pamphlet was originally published anonymously, entitled ''[[The Apparition of Mrs. Veal|A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal the Next Day after her Death to One Mrs. Bargrave at Canterbury The 8th of September, 1705]]''. It deals with the interaction between the spiritual realm and the physical realm and was most likely written in support of [[Charles Drelincourt]]'s ''The Christian Defence against the Fears of Death'' (1651). It describes Mrs. Bargrave's encounter with her old friend Mrs. Veal after she had died. It is clear from this piece and other writings that the political portion of Defoe's life was by no means his only focus.

=== Anglo-Scottish Union of 1707 ===
{{more citations needed|section|date=July 2017}}<!--lots of paragraphs without citations-->

[[File:Defoe 1709 The History Of The Union Of Great Britain.JPG|thumb|Title page from Daniel Defoe's: ''The History of the Union of Great Britain'' dated 1709 and printed in Edinburgh by the Heirs of Anderson]]
In despair during his imprisonment for the seditious libel case, Defoe wrote to [[William Paterson (banker)|William Paterson]], the London Scot and founder of the [[Bank of England]] and part instigator of the [[Darien scheme]], who was in the confidence of [[Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer]], leading minister and spymaster in the [[Governance of England|English government]]. Harley accepted Defoe's services and released him in 1703. He immediately published ''The Review'', which appeared weekly, then three times a week, written mostly by himself. This was the main mouthpiece of the English Government promoting the [[Acts of Union 1707|Act of Union 1707]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://theses.ncl.ac.uk/dspace/bitstream/10443/165/1/downie76.pdf |title=Robert Harley and the Press |last=Downie |first=J. A. |website=University of Newcastle eTheses |publisher=University of Newcastle |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190125183319/https://theses.ncl.ac.uk/dspace/bitstream/10443/165/1/downie76.pdf |archive-date=25 January 2019 |access-date=24 January 2019}}</ref>

Defoe began his campaign in ''The Review'' and other pamphlets aimed at English opinion, claiming that it would end the threat from the north, gaining for the Treasury an "inexhaustible treasury of men", a valuable new market increasing the power of England. By September 1706, Harley ordered Defoe to [[Edinburgh]] as a secret agent, and to secure acquiescence by using "underhand methods to predispose Scots' opinion in favour of"<ref name="Somerset">{{cite book |last=Somerset |first=Anne |author-link=Lady Anne Somerset |date=2012 |title=Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion |location=London |publisher=Willaim Collins |page=313 |isbn=978-0-00-720376-5}}</ref> the [[Treaty of Union]]. He was conscious of the risk to himself. Thanks to books such as ''The Letters of Daniel Defoe'' (edited by G. H. Healey, Oxford 1955), far more is known about his activities than is usual with such agents.

His first reports included vivid descriptions of violent demonstrations against the Union. "A Scots rabble is the worst of its kind", he reported. Defoe reportedly "became fearful of being [[lynched]] after a threatening crowd surged up the High Street shouting 'No Union! No English dogs!'"<ref name="Somerset"/> Years later [[Sir John Clerk, 2nd Baronet|John Clerk of Penicuik]], a leading Unionist, wrote in his memoirs that it was not known at the time that Defoe had been sent by Godolphin: {{blockquote|to give a faithful account to him from time to time how everything past here. He was therefor<!--sic--> a spy among us, but not known to be such, otherways the [[wikt:mob|Mob]] of [[Edinburgh|Edin.]]<!--sic--> had pull him to pieces.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clerk |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/memoirslifesirj01clergoog |title=Memoirs of the life of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, baronet, baron of the Exchequer, extracted by himself from his own journals, 1676–1755 |date=1892 |publisher=Scottish Historical Society |editor-last=Gray |editor-first=John Miller |location=Edinburgh |pages=63–64}} In a side-note at this point Clerk recommends Defoe's ''History of the Union of Great Britain'' : "This History of the Union deserves to be read. It was published in folio. There is not one fact in it which I can challenge"</ref>|sign=|source=}}

Defoe was a [[Presbyterian]] who had suffered in England for his convictions, and as such he was accepted as an adviser to the [[General Assembly of the Church of Scotland]] and committees of the [[Parliament of Scotland]]. He told Harley that he was "privy to all their folly" but "Perfectly unsuspected as with corresponding with anybody in England". He was then able to influence the proposals that were put to Parliament and reported,

{{blockquote|Having had the honour to be always sent for the committee to whom these amendments were referrèd,<br/>I have had the good fortune to break their measures in two particulars via the bounty on Corn and<br/>proportion of the Excise.}}

For Scotland, he used different arguments, even the opposite of those which he used in England, usually ignoring the English doctrine of the [[Parliamentary sovereignty in the United Kingdom|Sovereignty of Parliament]], for example, telling the Scots that they could have complete confidence in the guarantees in the Treaty. Some of his pamphlets were purported to be written by Scots, misleading even reputable historians into quoting them as evidence of Scottish opinion of the time. The same is true of a massive history of the Union which Defoe published in 1709 and which some historians still treat as a valuable contemporary source for their own works. Defoe took pains to give his history an air of objectivity by giving some space to arguments against the Union, but always kept the last word for himself.

He disposed of the main Union opponent, [[Andrew Fletcher (patriot)|Andrew Fletcher]] of [[East Saltoun and West Saltoun|Saltoun]], by ignoring him. Nor does he account for the deviousness of the [[James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton|Duke of Hamilton]], the official leader of the various factions opposed to the Union, who seemingly betrayed his former colleagues when he switched to the Unionist/Government side in the decisive final stages of the debate.

==== Aftermath ====
In 1709, Defoe authored a lengthy book entitled ''The History of the Union of Great Britain'', an Edinburgh publication printed by the Heirs of Anderson.<ref>[https://truescans.com/BeginnersFolder/Defoe.htm ''The History Of The Union Of Great Britain'', 1709; Edinburgh, Heirs of Anderson] at TrueScans.</ref> Defoe is cited twice in the book as its author,<ref>[http://truescans.com/BeginnersFolder/Images/Defoe_1709/DSCN9162.JPG First Defoe book author reference – cited as DANIEL DEFOE] at truescans.com.</ref><ref>[http://truescans.com/BeginnersFolder/Images/Defoe_1709/DSCN9166.JPG Second Defoe book author reference – cited as D. DE FOE] at truescans.com.</ref> and gives details of the events leading up to the ''[[Acts of Union 1707]]'', dating as far back as 6 December 1604, when King [[James VI and I|James I]] was presented with a proposal for unification.<ref>[http://truescans.com/BeginnersFolder/Images/Defoe_1709/DSCN9167A.JPG Book reference to 6th December of 1604] at truescans.com.</ref> This so-called "first draft" for unification took place just a little over 100 years before the signing of the 1707 accord.

Defoe made no attempt to explain why the same Parliament of Scotland which was so vehemently in favour of remaining independent from 1703 to 1705 became so supine in 1706. He received very little reward from his paymasters and no recognition for his services by the government. He made use of his Scottish experience to write his ''Tour thro' the whole Island of Great Britain'', published in 1726, where he admitted that the increase of trade and population in Scotland which he had predicted as a consequence of the Union was "not the case, but rather the contrary".

[[File:Glasgow Bridge c.1758.JPG|thumb|upright=1.4|Glasgow Bridge as Defoe might have seen it in the 18th century]]
Defoe's description of [[Glasgow]] (Glaschu) as a "Dear Green Place" has often been misquoted as a [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]] translation for the town's name. The Gaelic ''Glas'' could mean grey or green, while ''chu'' means dog or hollow. ''Glaschu'' probably means "Green Hollow". The "Dear Green Place", like much of Scotland, was a hotbed of unrest against the Union. The local [[St George's Tron Church|Tron]] [[Minister (Christianity)|minister]] urged his congregation "to up and anent for the City of God".

The "Dear Green Place" and "City of God" required government troops to put down the rioters tearing up copies of the Treaty at almost every [[mercat cross]] in Scotland. When Defoe visited in the mid-1720s, he claimed that the hostility towards his party was "because they were English and because of the Union, which they were almost universally exclaimed against".<ref>{{cite book|title=Essential Scots and the Idea of Unionism in Anglo-Scottish Literature, 1603–1832|first=Rivka|last=Swenson|page=58|date=2015|edition=ebook|publisher=Bucknell University Press}}</ref>

=== Late writing ===
The extent and particulars are widely contested concerning Defoe's writing in the period from the Tory fall in 1714 to the publication of ''[[Robinson Crusoe]]'' in 1719. Defoe comments on the tendency to attribute tracts of uncertain authorship to him in his apologia ''Appeal to Honour and Justice'' (1715), a defence of his part in Harley's Tory ministry (1710–1714). Other works that anticipate his novelistic career include ''The Family Instructor'' (1715), a conduct manual on religious duty; ''Minutes of the Negotiations of Monsr. Mesnager'' (1717), in which he impersonates [[Nicolas Mesnager]], the French plenipotentiary who negotiated the [[Treaty of Utrecht]] (1713); and ''A Continuation of the [[Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy]]'' (1718), a satire of European politics and religion, ostensibly written by a [[Muslim]] in Paris.

[[File:Daniel Defoe monument Bunhill Fields.jpg|thumb|upright|Memorial to "Daniel De-Foe", [[Bunhill Fields]], [[City Road]], [[Borough of Islington]], London]]

From 1719 to 1724, Defoe published the novels for which he is famous (see below). In the final decade of his life, he also wrote conduct manuals, including ''Religious Courtship'' (1722), ''The Complete English Tradesman'' (1726) and ''The New Family Instructor'' (1727). He published a number of books decrying the breakdown of the social order, such as ''The Great Law of Subordination Considered'' (1724) and ''Everybody's Business is Nobody's Business'' (1725) and works on the supernatural, like ''[[The Political History of the Devil]]'' (1726), ''A System of Magick'' (1727) and ''An Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions'' (1727). His works on foreign travel and trade include ''A General History of Discoveries and Improvements'' (1727) and ''Atlas Maritimus and Commercialis'' (1728). Perhaps his most significant work, apart from the novels, is ''[[A Tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain]]'' (1724–1727), which provided a panoramic survey of British trade on the eve of the [[Industrial Revolution]].

==== ''The Complete English Tradesman'' ====
Published in 1726, ''The Complete English Tradesman'' is an example of Defoe's political works. In the work, Defoe discussed the role of the [[Merchant|tradesman]] in England in comparison to tradesmen internationally, arguing that the British system of trade is far superior.<ref name=defoe1/> Defoe also implied that trade was the backbone of the [[Economy of the United Kingdom|British economy]]: "an estate's a pond, but a trade's a spring."<ref name="defoe1">{{cite book |last=Defoe |first=Daniel |title=The complete English tradesman, in familiar letters .. |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nnc1.0112322717 |publisher=Printed for George Ewing |publication-place=Dublin |year=1726 |oclc=36869195 |page=[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nnc1.0112322717?urlappend=%3Bseq=399%3Bownerid=27021597768393345-419 375]}}</ref> In the work, Defoe praised the practicality of trade not only within the economy but the social stratification as well. Defoe argued that most of the British [[gentry]] was at one time or another inextricably linked with the institution of trade, either through personal experience, marriage or genealogy.<ref name=defoe1/> Oftentimes younger members of noble families entered into trade, and marriages to a tradesman's daughter by a [[nobleman]] was also common. Overall, Defoe demonstrated a high respect for '''tradesmen''', being one himself.

Not only did Defoe elevate individual British tradesmen to the level of [[gentleman]], but he praised the entirety of British trade as a superior system to other systems of trade.<ref name=defoe1/> Trade, Defoe argues, is a much better catalyst for social and economic change than war. Defoe also argued that through the expansion of the [[British Empire]] and British mercantile influence, Britain would be able to "increase commerce at home" through job creations and increased [[Consumption (economics)|consumption]].<ref name=defoe1/> He wrote in the work that increased consumption, by laws of supply and demand, increases production and in turn raises wages for the poor therefore lifting part of British society further out of poverty.<ref name=defoe1/>

=== Novels ===
==== ''Robinson Crusoe'' ====
[[File:Daniel Defoe former house England.jpg|thumb|A house where Defoe once lived, near London, England]]
Published in 1719, when Defoe was in his late fifties,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Minto |first=William |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924013179902 |title=Daniel Defoe |publisher=Harper & Bros. |year=1879 |location=New York |language=en |oclc=562533988}}</ref> ''[[Robinson Crusoe]]'' relates the story of a man's shipwreck on a desert island for twenty-eight years and his subsequent adventures. Throughout its episodic narrative, Crusoe's struggles with faith are apparent as he bargains with God in times of life-threatening crises, but time and again he turns his back after his deliverances. He is finally content with his lot in life, separated from society, following a more genuine conversion experience.

In the opening pages of ''[[The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe]]'', the author describes how Crusoe settled in [[Bedfordshire]], married and produced a family, and that when his wife died, he went off on these further adventures. Bedford is also the place where the brother of "H. F." in ''A Journal of the Plague Year'' retired to avoid the danger of the plague, so that by implication, if these works were not fiction, Defoe's family met Crusoe in Bedford, from whence the information in these books was gathered. Defoe went to school in Newington Green with a friend named Caruso.

The novel has been assumed to be based in part on the story of the Scottish castaway [[Alexander Selkirk]], who spent four years stranded in the [[Juan Fernández Islands]],<ref name="autogenerated2006"/> but his experience is inconsistent with the details of the narrative.{{Cn|date=August 2024}}  The island Selkirk lived on, Más a Tierra (Closer to Land) was renamed [[Robinson Crusoe Island]] in 1966. It has also been supposed that Defoe may have also been inspired by a translation of a book by the [[Al-Andalus|Andalusian-Arab]] Muslim polymath [[Ibn Tufail]], who was known as "Abubacer" in Europe. The Latin edition was entitled ''[[Hayy ibn Yaqdhan|Philosophus Autodidactus]]'';<ref>Nawal Muhammad Hassan (1980), ''Hayy bin Yaqzan and Robinson Crusoe: A study of an early Arabic impact on English literature'', Al-Rashid House for Publication.</ref><ref>Cyril Glassé (2001), ''The New Encyclopedia of Islam'', Rowman Altamira, p. 202, {{ISBN|0-7591-0190-6}}.</ref><ref name="Amber">{{Cite journal |last=Haque |first=Amber |year=2004 |title=Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists |journal=Journal of Religion and Health |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=357–377 [369] |doi=10.1007/s10943-004-4302-z |jstor=27512819 |s2cid=38740431}}</ref><ref name="Wainwright">Martin Wainwright (22 March 2003) [http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,918454,00.html Desert island scripts], ''[[The Guardian]]''.</ref> [[Simon Ockley]] published an English translation in 1708, entitled ''The improvement of human reason, exhibited in the life of Hai ebn Yokdhan''.

==== ''Captain Singleton'' ====
Defoe's next novel was ''[[Captain Singleton]]'' (1720), an adventure story whose first half covers a traversal of Africa which anticipated subsequent discoveries by [[David Livingstone]] and whose second half taps into the contemporary fascination with [[piracy]]. The novel has been commended for its sensitive depiction of the close relationship between the hero and his religious mentor, [[Quaker]] William Walters. Its description of the geography of Africa and some of its fauna does not use the language or knowledge of a fiction writer and suggests an eyewitness experience.

==== ''Memoirs of a Cavalier'' ====
''[[Memoirs of a Cavalier]]'' (1720) is set during the [[Thirty Years' War]] and the [[English Civil War]].

==== ''A Journal of the Plague Year'' ====
''[[A Journal of the Plague Year]]'', published in 1722, can be read both as novel and as nonfiction. It is an account of the [[Great Plague of London]] in 1665, which is undersigned by the initials "H. F.", suggesting the author's uncle Henry Foe as its primary source. It is a historical account of the events based on extensive research and written as if by an eyewitness, even though Defoe was only about five years old when it occurred.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Zimmerman |first=Everett |title=H. F.'s Meditations: A Journal of the Plague Year |journal=PMLA |date=1972 |volume=87 |issue=3 |pages=417–423 |doi=10.2307/460900 |jstor=460900 |s2cid=164093586}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Mayer |first=Robert |title=The Reception of a Journal of the Plague Year and the Nexus of Fiction and History in the Novel |journal=ELH |date=1990 |volume=57 |issue=3 |pages=529–555 |doi=10.2307/2873233 |jstor=2873233}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Seager |first=Nicholas |title=Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics: Epistemology and Fiction in Defoe's "A Journal of the Plague Year" |journal=Modern Language Review |date=2008 |volume=103 |issue=3 |pages=639–653 |doi=10.1353/mlr.2008.0112 |id={{Gale|A181463661}} {{Project MUSE|824837}} |jstor=20467902 |s2cid=246643865}}</ref><ref>Nicholson, Watson, ''The Historical Sources of Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year'', Boston: The Stratford Co., 1919.</ref>

==== ''Colonel Jack'' ====
''[[Colonel Jack]]'' (1722) follows an orphaned boy from a life of poverty and crime to prosperity in the colonies, military and marital imbroglios, and religious conversion, driven by a problematic notion of becoming a "gentleman."

==== ''Moll Flanders'' ====
Also in 1722, Defoe wrote ''[[Moll Flanders]]'', another first-person [[picaresque novel]] of the fall and eventual redemption, both material and spiritual, of a lone woman in 17th-century England. The titular heroine appears as a whore, bigamist and thief, lives in [[Liberty of the Mint|The Mint]], commits adultery and incest, and yet manages to retain the reader's sympathy. Her savvy manipulation of both men and wealth earns her a life of trials but ultimately an ending in reward. Although Moll struggles with the morality of some of her actions and decisions, religion seems to be far from her concerns throughout most of her story. However, like Robinson Crusoe, she finally repents. ''Moll Flanders'' is an important work in the development of the novel, as it challenged the common perception of femininity and gender roles in 18th-century British society.<ref name="Novak 2001"/> Although it was not intended as a work of [[erotica]], later generations came to view it as such.<ref name="historyextra">{{Cite web |url=https://www.historyextra.com/period/moll-the-life-and-times-of-moll-flanders/ |title=Moll: The Life and Times of Moll Flanders |website=History Extra |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428084347/https://www.historyextra.com/period/moll-the-life-and-times-of-moll-flanders/ |archive-date=28 April 2019 |access-date=30 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Kibbie |first=Ann Louise |title=Monstrous Generation: The Birth of Capital in Defoe's Moll Flanders and Roxana |journal=PMLA |date=1995 |volume=110 |issue=5 |pages=1023–1034 |doi=10.2307/463027 |jstor=463027 |s2cid=163996973}}</ref>

==== ''Roxana'' ====
Defoe's final novel, ''[[Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress]]'' (1724), which narrates the moral and spiritual decline of a high society courtesan, differs from other Defoe works because the main character does not exhibit a conversion experience, even though she claims to be a penitent later in her life, at the time that she is relating her story.<ref>{{cite book|title=Dangerous Women, Libertine Epicures, and the Rise of Sensibility, 1670–1730|first=Laura|last=Linker|publisher=Taylor & Francis|edition=ebook|date=2016|page=118}}</ref>

==== Patterns ====
In Defoe's writings, especially in his fiction, are traits that can be seen across his works. Defoe was well known for his [[didacticism]], with most of his works aiming to convey a message of some kind to the readers (typically a moral one, stemming from his religious background).<ref>{{cite thesis |id={{ProQuest|302359591}} |last1=Kropf |first1=Carl Raymond |year=1968 |title=Defoe as a Puritan Novelist}}</ref> Connected to Defoe's didacticism is his use of the genre of [[spiritual autobiography]], particularly in ''Robinson Crusoe''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Starr |first1=G. A. |title=Defoe & spiritual autobiography |year=1971 |orig-year=1965 |publisher=Gordian Press |isbn=0-87752-138-7 |location=New York |oclc=219753}}{{page needed|date=November 2022}}</ref> Another common feature of Defoe's fictional works is that he claimed they were true stories of their subjects.

=== Attribution and de-attribution ===
Defoe is known to have used at least 198 [[pen name]]s.<ref>"The appendices offer even more: a listing of Voltaire's and Daniel Defoe's numerous pseudonyms (178 and 198, respectively)&nbsp;..." in ''A Dictionary of Pseudonyms and Their Origins, with Stories of Name Changes'', 3rd ed., Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub., 1998, {{ISBN|0-7864-0423-X}}.</ref> It was a very common practice in eighteenth-century novel publishing to initially publish works under a [[pen name]], with most other authors at the time publishing their works anonymously.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Vareschi |first=Mark |title=Attribution and Repetition: The Case of Defoe and the Circulating Library |journal=Eighteenth-Century Life |date=1 April 2012 |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=36–59 |doi=10.1215/00982601-1548027 |s2cid=145603239}}</ref> As a result of the anonymous ways in which most of his works were published, it has been a challenge for scholars over the years to properly credit Defoe for all of the works that he wrote in his lifetime. If counting only works that Defoe published under his own name, or his known pen name "the author of the True-Born Englishman", about 75 works can be attributed to him.<ref name=Oxford>{{cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of Danirel Defoe|chapter=Attribution and the Defoe Canon|first=Benjamin F.|last=Pauley|pages=629–44|date=2023}}</ref>

Beyond these 75 works, scholars have used a variety of strategies to determine what other works should be attributed to Defoe. Writer [[George Chalmers (antiquarian)|George Chalmers]] was the first to begin the work of attributing anonymously published works to Defoe. In ''History of the Union'', he created an expanded list with over a hundred titles that he attributed to Defoe, alongside twenty additional works that he designated as "Books which are supposed to be De Foe's."<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last=Novak |first=Maximillian E. |title=The Defoe Canon: Attribution and De-Attribution |journal=Huntington Library Quarterly |date=1996 |volume=59 |issue=1 |pages=83–104 |doi=10.2307/3817908 |jstor=3817908}}</ref> Chalmers included works in his canon of Defoe that were particularly in line with his style and way of thinking, and ultimately attributed 174 works to Defoe.<ref name=Oxford /> Many of the attributions of Defoe's novels came long after his death. Notably, ''Moll Flanders'' and ''Roxana'' were published anonymously for over fifty years until Francis Noble named Daniel Defoe on their title pages in edition publication in 1775 and 1774.<ref>{{Citation |last=Vareschi |first=Mark |title=Anonymous Defoe |date=2023 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/daniel-defoe-in-context/anonymous-defoe/BA155651248831E22ED374922A685413 |work=Daniel Defoe in Context |pages=145–152 |editor-last=Rivero |editor-first=Albert J. |access-date=2023-11-22 |series=Literature in Context |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-83671-5 |editor2-last=Justice |editor2-first=George}}</ref>

Biographer [[P. N. Furbank]] and W. R. Owens built upon this canon, also relying on what they believed could be Defoe's work, without a means to be absolutely certain.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=6538&recCount=25&recPointer=2&bibId=2558791|title=LC Catalog - Item Information (Full Record)|website=catalog.loc.gov}}</ref> In the ''Cambridge History of English Literature'', the section on Defoe by author [[William Peterfield Trent|William P. Trent]] attributes 370 works to Defoe. J.R. Moore generated the largest list of Defoe's work, with approximately five hundred and fifty works that he attributed to Defoe.<ref name=":1"/>