Daniel Defoe 1660-1731 «What is bred in the bone will not go out of the flesh

novel.

a butcher.
In 1683/4, married Mary Tuffley and established himself as a hosiery merchant.
Himself a dissenter, published pamphlets satirizing the oppression of dissenters; thus fined, imprisoned in 1703 from May to Nov. and pilloried.
Failed in all the business he tried.
Saved by Harley, a Tory politician; and employed as a secret agent between 1703 and 1704.
In 1704, began the Review.

the popularity of this book. Robinson Crusoe was so well-received that an entire genre of desert island survivalist fiction became popular at the time.
It is believed that Defoe’s inspiration for the character Robinson Crusoe was Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, who lived alone on the island of Juan Fernandez from 1704 to 1709.
The 1986 novel Foe, written by Nobel-winning author J.M. Coetzee, is woven around the plot of Robinson Crusoe.

Robinson Crusoe has two sequels, The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, published in 1719, and Serious Reflections During the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, published in 1720.