Moll Flanders
The fortunes and misfortunes of the famous Moll Flanders, &c is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1722. It purports to be the true account of the life of the eponymous Moll Flanders, detailing her exploits from birth until old age.
By 1721, Daniel Defoe had become a recognised novelist, with the success of Robinson Crusoe in 1719. His political work was tapering off at this point, due to the fall of both Whig and Tory party leaders with whom he had been associated; Robert Walpole was beginning his rise, and Defoe was never fully at home with Walpole's group. Defoe's Whig views are nevertheless evident in the story of Moll, and the novel's full title gives some insight into this and the outline of the plot.
One of the major themes within the book, and a popular area of scholarly research regarding its writer Daniel Defoe, is that of spiritual autobiography.
It is usually assumed that the novel was written by Daniel Defoe, and his name is commonly given as the author in modern printings of the novel. However, the original printing did not have an author, as it was an apparent autobiography. The attribution of Moll Flanders to Defoe was made by bookseller Francis Noble in 1770, after Defoe's death in 1731. The novel is based partially on the life of Moll King, a London criminal whom Defoe met while visiting Newgate Prison.
Historically, the book was occasionally the subject of police censorship.
Excerpted from Moll Flanders on Wikipedia.
The fortunes and misfortunes of the famous Moll Flanders, &c
| Author | Daniel Defoe |
| Country | Kingdom of Great Britain |
| Genre | Picaresque Novels, Autobiography, Adventure Novels |
| Copyright | Public domain worldwide. |
| Book cover | - |
| Ebooks | Project Gutenberg |
| Scans | Google-digitized |
| Audio | Librivox | Internet Archive Reader: Collaborative 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 |
| Read online | The fortunes and misfortunes of the famous Moll Flanders, &c |