A Journal of the Plague Year
by:
Daniel Defoe (author)
Classic 1722 account of the epidemic that ravaged England nearly 60 years earlier. Defoe used his considerable talents as a journalist and novelist to reconstruct — historically and fictionally — the Great Plague of London in 1664-65. Written as an eyewitness report, the novel abounds in...
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Classic 1722 account of the epidemic that ravaged England nearly 60 years earlier. Defoe used his considerable talents as a journalist and novelist to reconstruct — historically and fictionally — the Great Plague of London in 1664-65. Written as an eyewitness report, the novel abounds in memorable and realistic details.
show less
Format: paperback
ISBN:
9780486419190 (0486419193)
Publish date: November 9th 2001
Publisher: Dover Publications
Pages no: 192
Edition language: English
3.5 to 4 stars, read for university.
I find it difficult to give this a rating not only because of what it is--a book that straddles the fiction/non-fiction line, written centuries ago--but also because of the reasons I read it. I wasn't looking for the story, but for insight into the time period, the science and the language and the p...
Considered as a work of fiction, it's not much of a novel, rambling around and sometimes repeating itself, including some dry details about the numbers of dead (including charts). However, as an account of the plague, written by someone who experienced it, it's pretty fascinating.
This was a very interesting read, but it was also very difficult to follow. The lack of chapters, meandering streams of thought, and repetition caused me to skim large chunks of the book. Being a first of it's kind, that was to be expected.It was interesting to see how they tried to contain the outb...
Even though it's a fictional journal this book reflects the haunting reality of the plague days. The text meant to be a journal there's no real plot in it but many short stories of victims and comments on the way the disease was handled. Not all that entertaining but very informative.
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