Defoe as an outstanding literary and public figure
Defoe is rightfully considered the writer, who made a huge contribution to the creation of the European realistic novel of modern times. So no wonder that in the English prose, Defoe's work represents an entire epoch. It was the first step in the development of the enlightenment novel and created the ground for the emergence of a social realistic novel of the 19th century. That's why it can be said that the followers of the Defoe-novelist were Smollett, Fielding, and Dickens.
Moreover, Defoe stood at the origins of new genres of the novel: a biographical, psychological, criminal, adventure, educational, historical and novel, chronicling the journey. It was Defoe who bravely proceeded to develop all these forms and outlined the most important ways for the movement of the novel, although in his work all these forms were demarcated still weakly.
Defoe had his own understanding of human nature. He made a start from the enlightenment vision of a man as a being kind from birth, although at the same time depending on the difficult living conditions and the influence of the environment. Perhaps, it was this attitude toward a man that led to the fact that Defoe's novels paid much attention to the social side of life.
Defoe made a great contribution to the development of English journalism. He lived in a difficult and dramatic historical era, which can be called the time of strengthening bourgeois public relations. So it is not surprising that Defoe did not ignore the ideological, religious and political struggle that was taking place at that time. Having many talents and tremendous energy, he successfully and fruitfully combined in himself a political activist, a bourgeois businessman, a profound writer, and a notable publicist.
A lot of time Defoe spent thinking about the methods of the best social order building. He even constantly put forward projects to improve the existing order and shared his ideas in treatises and pamphlets. Despite the fact that many of his pamphlets Defoe did not sign, as a rule, the fact that it was he who wrote them, then was revealed. And although the general public liked the journalistic articles of Defoe, he was repeatedly arrested and even had to sit in prison.
In the pamphlet, A Poor Man`s Plea (1698) Defoe spoke out against laws that protected the rich and punished poor people. His verse satire The True-Born Englishman. A Satyr (1701) also had a democratic orientation. In it, he opposed the aristocratic self-exaltation of nobility and offered to feel pride not because of high origin, but because of personal prowess. According to Defoe, a person should flaunt not his noble ancestors, but his noble deeds.
