Defoe in Scotland - Reviews & Comments

Author : Dr Anne McKim
Category: History


'Anne McKim has done a valuable job in making available this selection from Defoe's writings about his various visits to Scotland.'
Michael Lister, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
'McKIM OFFERS NEW DEFOE INSIGHT. Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), author of the novel Robinson Crusoe, was a prolific writer, producing hundreds of pamphlets, journals and books covering a wide range of subjects. Anne McKim, an associate professor at Waikato University, has made a themed selection of passages from his writings focusing on his links with Scotland, especially around the time of the Treaty of Union with England in 1707. Defoe agreed to go to Scotland in 1706 and, while living there, to supply intelligence to the English secretary of state regarding Scottish attitudes to the proposed union. Hence the reference to spying in the sub-title. Defoe may have been gathering intelligence, but he seems to have had a genuine interest in Scotland and a conviction that the union would bring considerable advantages to both countries. He is an energetic advocate of union to readers on both sides of the border, often pointing to the beneficial effects of increased trade and commerce. He was himself involved in many commercial ventures. –- He also writes interestingly of his travels in Scotland, with extensive descriptions of the towns and countryside of the time. McKim supplies historical background and helpful bridging comments along the way. Her selection of passages from the mass of Defoe's writing, along with her commentary, gives the reader a lively sense of his writing. Talented journalist that he was, he offers the modern reader a close-up view of the people and the issues involved in the union of Scotland and England.'
Bryan Walker in the Waikato Times
'The name's Defoe ... Daniel Defoe. Licensed to quill, sending back secret letters to English Secretary of State Sir Robert Harley, the author of Robinson Crusoe made a number of forays north to spy on the Scots. In the years before and after the Act of Union he not only monitored the activities of pro-Jacobite groups but reported on the mood in more loyal circles. These were less than swashbuckling ventures, if truth be told, but so shrewd an observer and so fresh a stylist is worth reading on just about any subject.'
The Scotsman, December 2006

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Defoe in Scotland