So, I have gotten a little behind lately on the blog. Spring Break was a big throw off for me but now I'm back on the band wagon and getting things done a little more timely. I'll start with the one due the week that SB began.

I wanted to look into Daniel Defoe's life a little bit more and his person beliefs were intriguing to me also. Apparently he was the first author of the typical "novel" style book. http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/defoe.htm states that he was the first to have published anything longer than a poem or dialog. I didn't really find that link to be very trustworthy or informative so I quickly moved on. This one http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_18c/defoe/ caught my eye as being much more above board and educational. It says that he was one of the first journalists to exist and perhaps even should be hailed as the "father of Journalism". He wasn't very well respected by his contemporaries and I found what this site quoted Sir Walter Scott as having said concerning him was very interesting and I agree wholeheartedly with. He said something to the effect that -Defoe wasn't really concerned with composing a cohesive piece of work and seemed to hop from topic to topic in a very unconvincing way. Or something like that... It made Robinson Crusoe seem like some weird journal that didn't really need to be read and didn't really have a reason to be written, when I think a book like that could have been so much more meaningful, inspiring, and convincing. I think the way he wrote it was a big waste of time.

http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/defoe.htm He was a devout puritan and famous for a lot more than just Robinson Crusoe. He wrote many other political rantings during his time and many people thought he sold himself out for politics. Overall he seems like a controversial author and one that still is questionable in both is reputation and his writing ability.