English writer and journalist, Daniel Defoe is mainly known for his novel Robinson Crusoe (1719), though he also stood out for his role in the development of the press and for his political and social essays
Defoe left his studies to become a discreet businessman, whose activities were not entirely profitable, even receiving prison time for his debts
From 1695, after several years of exile due to his political ideology, he starts a new business dedicated to tiles and bricks which begins to work, providing his family—he was married and had six children—with greater economic stability
However, his political activism leads him to publish several essays or pamphlets that cost him days of imprisonment and the pillory. After returning to jail, Defoe begins working from a magazine supporting political factions of the government, participating in the English secret services
In 1719 he publishes his great novel, Robinson Crusoe, which allows him to launch into a literary career marked by successes such as The Adventures of Captain Singleton, A Journal of the Plague Year, or Moll Flanders. His popularity grew and his influence on subsequent generations of writers by enhancing the novelistic genre is notable
Despite all his success and his connections with the government, Defoe never achieved stable economic solvency for long. His death in 1731 occurred while fleeing from new creditors
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