Abstract
AbstractIn 1722, Daniel Defoe publishedA Journal of the Plague Year– a supposed account of the ‘great plague’ of 1665. It is commonly thought to be one of his most incisive pieces of ‘realist’ fiction. And, in our moment, one of his most prescient. The purpose of this paper is to revisit Defoe'sJournalin order to stimulate reflection on our present experience of living through the ‘plague year’ of 2020. There is much, as we shall see, about governance during a plague that is resonant – but much also about ‘hearts melted into tears’, about suffering, how it is felt and how it is perceived. The purpose of theJournal, according to Defoe at least, was to inform ‘those who come after’, so that they might be better prepared, so that they would not make the same mistakes. We will see.
Highlights
1 Introduction Henry Foe was faced with a dilemma. It was spring 1665, bubonic plague was spreading across London and, like so many of his neighbours, he was wondering what to do
The Gothic version, written to horrify and to warn of the ‘dreadful’ consequence of not preparing for the inevitable, A Journal of the Plague Year was a history of the future
Four years after the appearance of his Journal, Defoe published another less well-known essay entitled The Political History of the Devil, within which could be found a famous aphorism: ‘Things as certain as death and taxes can be more firmly believed’59 That, and the inevitability of another plague
Summary
Henry Foe was faced with a dilemma It was spring 1665, bubonic plague was spreading across London and, like so many of his neighbours, he was wondering what to do. With a thriving business, much of which was conducted abroad. He wondered the wisdom of abandoning it. Henry sought counsel from two familiar places The first was his brother, who had travelled widely and seen plenty of plagues: get out while you can, ‘save thyself’
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