Defoe's Politics: Parliament, Power, Kingship and 'Robinson Crusoe'This study of Defoe's politics aims to challenge the critical demand to see Defoe as a "modern" and to counter misrepresentations of his political writings by restoring their seventeenth-century context. Offering a full examination of Defoe's years as a political reporter and journalist (1689-1715), it recovers his traditional, conservative and anti-Lockean ideas on contemporary issues: the origins of society, the role of the people in the establishment of a political society and how monarchies are created and maintained as the means of achieving a beneficent political order. At the heart of Defoe's political imagination, Manuel Schonhorn finds the vision of a warrior-king, derived from sources in the Bible, and in ancient and English history. The model illuminates his original reading of Robinson Crusoe, which emerges less in terms of a family romance, a tract for the rising bourgeoisie or a Lockean parable of government, than as a dramatic re-enactment of Defoe's life-long political preoccupations concerning society, government and kingship. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Defoe dissent and monarchy | 9 |
Defoes Reflections Upon the Late Great Revolution and | 21 |
Defender of the king 16891701 | 43 |
From the death of William III to Jure Divino 17021706 | 89 |
Juro Divino | 124 |
The politics of Robinson Crusoe | 141 |
165 | |
Other editions - View all
Defoe's Politics: Parliament, Power, Kingship and 'Robinson Crusoe' Manuel Schonhorn Limited preview - 1991 |
Defoe's Politics: Parliament, Power, Kingship and 'Robinson Crusoe' Manuel Schonhorn No preview available - 2006 |
Defoe's Politics: Parliament, Power, Kingship and 'Robinson Crusoe' Manuel Schonhorn No preview available - 1991 |
Common terms and phrases
absolute allegiance Anne argument asserted authority balance Book of Samuel Cambridge University Press Charles Church cited Commons conquest consent Constitution contemporary crown Crusoe's Daniel Defoe debate defend Defoe's Early Defoe's political Deliverer Discourse Dissenters divine right election England English Essay Filmer fundamental law God's Government Harley Henry hereditary History Hooker ideology island J. G. A. Pocock Jacobite James James II John John Locke Jure Divino Kenyon King William king's kingdom kingship language Liberty Locke Lockean London Lord Majesty martial Minister modern monarch Monmouth's myth narrative nation nature never Original Power Oxford pamphlet parliament parliamentary Person POAS political thought Prince Protestant Queen radical reign republican reveal Review Robert Robert Harley Robinson Crusoe Royal royalist Saul scepter Scripture sermon seventeenth century society sovereign sovereignty standing army Stephen Baxter Stuart subjects sword throne tion Tory tracts traditional Treatises Treatises of Government tyranny voice vols Whig whiggish William III writings wrote