Background
- A political rabble-rouser -- for which he was imprisoned several times -- and pamphleteer.
- Sustained financially with his wife’s sizeable dowry -- nonetheless, bankrupt by 1692 -- and never recovered.
- At age 59 (1719), Robinson Crusoe -- fictional biography -- followed by several more “biographies.”
- “Arguably the most prolific writer in the English language -- considered by many the father of the novel and the founder of modern journalism.
- Influenced Benjamin Franklin. Left Church of England --> Presbyterian Dissenter, 1662
Introduction to the Journal Plague Year: 1665
- (Defoe would have been about 4 - 5 years old)
- (The “journal” was so good, I thought it was nonfiction! It was only later that I learned that it was fiction, but Defoe refused to write anything that was fiction. It had to be as near truth as possible.)
- The Journal published 1722 (Robinson Crusoe had been published 3 years earlier --
- Crusoe: origins of the modern novel. Great fire of London, 1666 -- destroyed 3/4 of housing in London!!
- The South Sea Bubble popped in 1721 --> economic ruin for many.
London at the time: recovering!
Continental war over -- restoration of Charles II, Cornwall dead.
Defoe: the plague was divine intervention -- but he can’t understand it: “the wealthy get what they deserve, but the poor die just as quickly”
He wrote the journal at age 62 -- he was known for his research -- but the emotional aspect must have been based on what he saw / remembered from age 5 or 6! I wonder what family members / what friends he lost to the plague?? He wrote this --as a journal -- of an adult male who had lived through it --so -- HISTORICAL (FICTION) NOVEL.
The plague -- like business cycles -- was cyclic.
Previously: 1656 Sept 1664: Londoners heard plague returned to Holland (Amsterdam / Rotterdam) 1663: Amsterdam / Rotterdam -- from Italy? from the Levant via their Turkey Fleet? from Candia (Crete)? from Cyprus?
(Drury Lane: way west of walled city of London) (St Giles) No newspapers (remember the oldest newspaper was in Scandinavia about this time) Word of mouth -- from letters/ memos; written by merchants 1st known deaths in London: -- two Frenchman, Nov / Dec 1664 -- Long Acre, upper end of Drury Lane Parish of St Giles in the Fields and Parish of St Andrew’s Holburn
See website: http://eee.uci.edu/clients/bjbecker/PlaguesandPeople/lecture7.html
“spotted fever” -- typhus or meningitis -- I would bet typhus
“Certificates of Health” -- p. 9 -- required to travel through towns and lodge at inns.
Location of H.F.’s house -- p. 9 His own plans -- p. 9 - p. 10
Divine cause -- why he felt he should not flee London -- p. 12
How Islamics fared -- p. 13 -- badly -- because they felt outcome was all predestined -- they took no precautions -- it was all in hands of God
Decides to stay in London, p. 15 Mid-July, 1665 Talks of the comet that appeared just before the plague, p. 20
Mentions Poor Robin's Almanack (Poor Richard’s?)
Merry-andrews: clowns
Pudding-jacks: jesters, p. 30
Quack: this word goes back at least to he 17th century! p. 31
...gardens, walls, pales (beyond the Pale) (pales - think “picket fence” -- what is the word for the pointed logs used in American forts? that’s what I envision “pales” are” ) [pales to poles? -- yes! from a website: Middle English, from Old English pal, from Latin plus, stake; see pag- in Indo-European roots. “beyond the pale” --- “off the reservation”
The notes at the end of the book are superb. Rats are mentioned only once. -- p. 116
The quarantine actually worked -- p. 37 -- had it really been enforced -- could more lives have been saved?
Why did plague end so abruptly? Plague reached its peak in September; great statistical analysis, p. 213
Not only were active cases decreasing but more people were surviving -- initially death -- 4/5; now it was 3/5 surviving. [4/5 die; now 2/5 die] Other cities after London: Norwich, Peterborough, etc.
Quacks = Mountebanks
No comments:
Post a Comment