Daniel Defoe clearly relied on his imagination to write his history, but where he invented scenes it was in the spirit of a larger truth
Before we even began reading A Journal of the Plague Year together, it felt like an obvious choice as we try to find our way through this pandemic. That feeling only grew when we began, and I saw its many parallels to our current situation.
But it also seems strange that this particular book should have been preserved by history – not least because, as a historical account, it’s pretty dubious. Most now think of it as fiction, despite the frontispiece’s claim that the book was “by a CITIZEN who continued all the while in London”.
Village constable: Why you will not pretend to quarter us by Force, will you?
John: We have offer’d no Violence to you yet, why do you seem to oblige us to it?
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