Summary
Daniel Defoe: The Pirate King
Where Daniel's unusual interest in pirates comes from is not easy to figure out, even after some reasonable assumptions. Given his truly extensive body of work on all manner of pirates at sea, one would think that the author of the famous Robinson had something personal with this notorious fellow. Defoe did not devote himself only to the biographies of the most notorious pirates of his time, but, as far as they are concerned, he greatly ventured into the realm of fiction, and even when he sticks to the real facts of the lives of his heroes, he greatly encourages his own imagination, salting their already wild adventures. As the probable author of the "General History of Pirates" (1724 and 1728), two significant books of nonfiction (or at least assumed to be) about the pirates of his time, although the authorship of this reading is still not fully resolved, Defoe was clearly passionate about composing pirate fiction.
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