Defoe and the Whig Novel

Download or read book Defoe and the Whig Novel written by Leon Guilhamet and published by University of Delaware Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Defoe's fictional settings all begin in the reign of the Stuarts, but the lack of specificity invariably reflects on the Hanoverian political and social situation, which witnessed a crisis in Whig leadership from 1717 to Walpole's resumption of power after the disaster of the South Sea Bubble and the sudden deaths of Stanhope and Sunderland. This serious split in Whig leadership probably played a role in Defoe's turning toward fiction. But Defoe never abandoned his social and political views. This study explores how his social viewpoint actuates his major fiction. --