Daniel Defoe, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders

Stuart Sim (University of Sunderland)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1722

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel
Picaresque

Resources

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Recommended Reading

Moll Flanders

, like

Robinson Crusoe

, owes a debt to spiritual autobiography, from which it derives much of its basic narrative structure. An embattled individual facing a hostile world, Moll sins and repents in the serial fashion of the protagonist of spiritual autobiography, undergoes the characteristic 'conversion experience' where she is given evidence of God's support (in Newgate Prison, in Moll's case), and finally triumphs over adversity to reach a state of personal security.

Moll

is also in the picaresque tradition of prose narrative, harking back to earlier Spanish models featuring the 'picaro', or rogue, figure, with Moll herself turning into an engaging female picaro, existing by her wits on the margins of society. There was a vogue for this kind of material in early…

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1958 words

Citation: Sim, Stuart. "The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 June 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=612, accessed 24 April 2024.]

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