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On the attribution of novels to Daniel Defoe

  • W.R, Owens
    ,
  • P.N. Furbank
Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Open access

Abstract

DID DEFOE WRITE MOLL FLANDERS AND ROXANA?" asks Ashley Marshall, in an acute and well-reasoned essay in the present issue of Philological Quarterly. It is a good question, and--maybe rightly?--Marshall thinks the answer we give about these famous novels in our writings about the attribution of works to Defoe is not satisfactory. We present these works as having a secure place in the Defoe canon, even though the evidence we bring forward for his authorship of them is, by our own admission, somewhat problematical. In Marshall's view, since no good case has ever been put forward, they cannot be regarded as "definitively" by Defoe. Scholars, including ourselves, ought to face up to this problem, and should in future present these novels as only "dubiously attributed to Defoe, and preferably with special emphasis on the uncertainty."

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output: Contribution to journal Article Peer-review

Original language

English

Pages from-to (Number of pages)

Pages 243-253

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

Philological Quarterly (Volume 89)

Publication milestones

  • Published - 01/01/2010

Publication status

Published - 01/01/2010

ISSN

0031-7977

External Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/302236
  • Scopus: 79959459223

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