![]() ![]() He was six years old at the time of the “visitation,” and many of his family members experienced events first hand. Burgess reminds us, however, that records verify many of the stories Defoe relates to us.ĭefoe was intimately connected to the events of the Plague in London. Wherever Defoe shares with us unsubstantiated events extraordinary in nature, he is careful to remind the reader that the facts are unconfirmed. Anthony Burgess, in an introduction to the 1966 edition of “The Journal,” reminds readers that Defoe, who had a “passion for plausibility,” is sharing with us a real account of events in London. Defoe was a journalist by trade, and by extension, a seeker of truth and fact. Fifty years later Daniel Defoe wrote A Journal of the Plague Year, a fictionalized remembrance of those dark times. ![]() In 1665 the Bubonic Plague spread throughout London and the surrounding countryside, killing over 100,000 people. The contrast of our unfolding experience with that of 17 th century Londoners provides elements of examination of how we carry ourselves in times of crisis, personally, culturally, and politically. In light of the COVID 19 virus now spreading around the world, it seems appropriate to revisit Daniel Defoe’s Journal of the Plague Year, a fictionalized account of the Bubonic Plague in 1665 London. ![]()
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