Defoe’s Literary Achievement

Abstract

The death of a major writer is usually followed by a period of reaction in which critical interest in that writer’s work is at a low ebb. This phase is then succeeded by a process of rehabilitation, sometimes lasting one or even two generations. In Defoe’s case, the process has been an unusually slow one, for it was not until the mid-twentieth century — more than two centuries after his death — that he became the subject of serious academic scrutiny.