Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) was an English novelist and journalist. One of the first English novels and one of the most popular adventure stories was his «Robinson Crusoe». Some critics have called Defoe the father of the English novel, others rate him as much less important.

Daniel Defoe was born in London, his father was a butcher and a candle merchant. He started a business career, but he went bankrupt and turned to writing. His earliest writings имеется дело with politics and religion. One political pamphlet in 1703 led to his imprisonment for about 5 months.

For about 25 years, Defoe earned his living writing for newspapers. From 1704 to 1713 he even produced his own periodical «The Review», single-handedly. At times he was gecretly writing for the Whig Party in one paper and the Tories in another.

Defoe has written a great variety of works. It is very difficult to tell how many works he produced, because most of them were published anonymously. His works include poetry, theology, economics and geography.

Many readers know Defoe as a novelist. Actually, it was really a minor part of his writing, and not the part that gave him the most pride. Defoe's most famous novel is «Robinson Crusoe» (1719).

«Robinson Crusoe» is the story of a man marooned on an island. It is a memorable adventure story and a study of what it is like to be truly alone. It is also a success story, because crusoe's hard work, inventiveness, and ability to take advantage of others turns his island into a successful colony.

Defoe's novels marked an important break with the fiction of the past. He offered the ordinary lives of real people who were the normal products of their social and economic surroundings. Defoe makes us believe in the reality of what we are reading as we are hurried from scene to scene by his breathless prose. Only after we have finished do we realize that we have not really been given much psychological insight into the characters.