Beyond Belief [Hardcover]

John Martin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2007

Biography of famous religious dissenter and author of Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

To biographers, Defoe, father of the modern novel, is the most enticing English literary figure next to Shakespeare. Plenty of documentation of him has been found but doesn't help much with persistent questions: Why did he move around so much? Why did he have constant money troubles? Why is he almost completely mum about his own life? Martin, who like his subject is both businessman and novelist, believes such questions can be answered if one presumes not that Defoe was fearfully hiding youthful participation in Monmouth's rebellion, as other biographers have thought, but that Defoe was a cross-dressing homosexual. Martin admits to speculating but thinks Defoe becomes clearer if his clandestine sexual identity and the blackmail it laid him open to are considered plausible and inferentially investigated. The major clues Martin follows up are Defoe's less-than-cozy marriages; his long, intense relationships with certain men; his novels' protagonist-narrators' personalities and doings; and the curious ways he went through money. Professional scholars may pooh-pooh Martin's exercise. Those hooked by Defoe's fundamental elusiveness may be spellbound. Olson, Ray

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Accent Press (May 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1905170564
• ISBN-13: 978-1905170562
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #808,333 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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