- Title Pages
- Illustration
- Dedication
- Acnowledgements
- List of Illustrations
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 After the Revolution
- 2 The Education of a Dissenter
- 3 Meditating on Matters Spiritual and Secular
- 4 Marriage and Rebellion
- 5 Financial Woes and Recovery
- 6 Propagandist for William III
- 7 <i>The True-Born Englishman</i> and Other Satires
- 8 An Age of Plot and Deceit, of Contradiction and Paradox
- 9 From Pilloried Libeller to Government Propagandist
- 10 ‘Writing History Sheet by Sheet’
- 11 From Public Journalist to Lunar Philosopher
- 12 Defoe as Spy and Whig Propagandist
- 13 A ‘True Spy’ in Scotland
- 14 In Limbo Between Causes and Masters
- 15 Journalism and History in ‘An Age of Mysteries and Paradoxes’<sup>1</sup>
- 16 How to Sell Out While Keeping One’s Integrity (Somewhat) Intact in That ‘Lunatick Age’<sup>1</sup>
- 17 These Dangerous Times
- 18 ‘A Miserable Divided Nation’<sup>1</sup>
- 19 A Change of Monarchs and the Whig’s Revenge
- 20 Times When Honest Men Must Reserve Themselves for Better Fortunes
- 21 Corrector General of the Press: A Digression on Defoe as a Journalist
- 22 The Year Before <i>Robinson Crusoe:</i>
- 23 <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> and the Variability of Life
- 24 After <i>Crusoe</i>:
- 25 Creating Fictional Worlds
- 26 Describing Britain in the 1720s
- 27 Enter Henry Baker
- 28 Last Productive Years
- 29 Sinking Under the Weight of Affliction
- Works Cited
- Index
Corrector General of the Press: A Digression on Defoe as a Journalist
Corrector General of the Press: A Digression on Defoe as a Journalist
- Chapter:
- (p.490) 21 Corrector General of the Press: A Digression on Defoe as a Journalist
- Source:
- Daniel Defoe: Master of Fictions
- Author(s):
Maximillian E. Novak
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
It was not until August 24, 1717 that Read’s Weekly Journal noted Daniel Defoe’s apparent control over a large number of journals and particularly over what was the most forceful anti-government newspaper, the Weekly Journal, sometimes called Mist’s Weekly Journal after the nominal editor, Nathaniel Mist. Defoe appears to have struck up a brief relationship with Edmund Curll, the renowned publisher of pornographic works such as Onanism Display’d. Between Defoe’s letter to Robert Harley on September 28, 1714, asking for assistance with the Anglesey case, and the fascinating explanation to Charles de la Faye on April 26, 1718, the only extant letter from Defoe is one to Samuel Keimer, the printer of Defoe’s ‘Quaker’ tracts. If 1716 was a quiet year for Defoe as he settled into performing his tasks for the government, he was soon to be back in the thick of the journalistic controversies of the time. Abel Boyer renewed his battle with Defoe in the summer of 1717.
Keywords: Daniel Defoe, Edmund Curll, Robert Harley, Charles de la Faye, Samuel Keimer, Abel Boyer, journals, Nathaniel Mist
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- Title Pages
- Illustration
- Dedication
- Acnowledgements
- List of Illustrations
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 After the Revolution
- 2 The Education of a Dissenter
- 3 Meditating on Matters Spiritual and Secular
- 4 Marriage and Rebellion
- 5 Financial Woes and Recovery
- 6 Propagandist for William III
- 7 <i>The True-Born Englishman</i> and Other Satires
- 8 An Age of Plot and Deceit, of Contradiction and Paradox
- 9 From Pilloried Libeller to Government Propagandist
- 10 ‘Writing History Sheet by Sheet’
- 11 From Public Journalist to Lunar Philosopher
- 12 Defoe as Spy and Whig Propagandist
- 13 A ‘True Spy’ in Scotland
- 14 In Limbo Between Causes and Masters
- 15 Journalism and History in ‘An Age of Mysteries and Paradoxes’<sup>1</sup>
- 16 How to Sell Out While Keeping One’s Integrity (Somewhat) Intact in That ‘Lunatick Age’<sup>1</sup>
- 17 These Dangerous Times
- 18 ‘A Miserable Divided Nation’<sup>1</sup>
- 19 A Change of Monarchs and the Whig’s Revenge
- 20 Times When Honest Men Must Reserve Themselves for Better Fortunes
- 21 Corrector General of the Press: A Digression on Defoe as a Journalist
- 22 The Year Before <i>Robinson Crusoe:</i>
- 23 <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> and the Variability of Life
- 24 After <i>Crusoe</i>:
- 25 Creating Fictional Worlds
- 26 Describing Britain in the 1720s
- 27 Enter Henry Baker
- 28 Last Productive Years
- 29 Sinking Under the Weight of Affliction
- Works Cited
- Index