Maximillian E. Novak
Autor de Daniel Defoe : master of fictions : his life and ideas
Sobre El Autor
Maximillian E. Novak is Professor of English Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles
Obras de Maximillian E. Novak
Obras relacionadas
Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations) (1987) — Contribuidor — 6 copias
Etiquetado
Conocimiento común
- Género
- male
Miembros
Reseñas
Premios
También Puede Gustarte
Autores relacionados
Estadísticas
- Obras
- 15
- También por
- 1
- Miembros
- 78
- Popularidad
- #229,022
- Valoración
- 3.5
- Reseñas
- 2
- ISBNs
- 22
This book... not so much. This is *strictly* an academic research tool. Novak is not, I suspect, much of a biographer at heart. He is, however, an excellent scholar of Defoe. So the structure of this book is, straightforwardly, a summary of Defoe's writings. All of them, from the most insignificant squib in defense of Whig principles, through to the late novels that give us a reason to care about Defoe any more than any of the other fairly generic Dissenting Whigs. And they all get more or less the same amount of attention. This is great if you're writing a dissertation on Defoe and don't want to read his collected works. This is not great if you want to learn about Defoe or his novels.
I wouldn't choose to write a biography this way, but I can see the value in it. But even that value is decreased somewhat by the impenetrable style of the book. Novak routinely names obscure eighteenth century men and events without introducing them or saying who/what they are. Since so much of Defoe's writing was occasional journalism, much of the book is a not very well organized look at minor, unimportant political/theological/economic scuffles. And I say this as a reader who's fascinated by 18th century English politics.
My reading of the book wasn't helped by the fact that Novak defends more or less everything Defoe said (when he does something truly and obviously objectionable, Novak will introduce the paragraph with 'It must be admitted that...'). I think Defoe was wrong in most of the debates he was a part of, and that his ideas, personality and actions were borderline repugnant.
So it's possible that someone who, like Novak, is more or less an 18th century Whig with low church sympathies and a love for trade and commerce would find more to like about this book than I did. And if you're a literature graduate student, even a non-Whiggish one, this is obviously a gold-mine that you should buy immediately. You just don't want to read it right through, trust me.… (más)