Daniel Defoe was born in 1660.

In 1719 he published his first novel, Robinson Crusoe, which was followed by: Captain Singleton
(1720), Moll Flanders, Colonel Jack and The Fortunate Mistress. Defoe is considered the father of the English novel. He was a
representative of the middle classes who wanted to see their lives and ideals portrayed in literature. His novels are fictional
autobiographies. They consist of a series of episodes and adventures held together by the unifying presence of a single hero. He
used retrospective first-person narration and the author's point of view mainly coincided with the main character's. They usually
appear in isolation, either physically or socially like Moll Flanders, in their struggle for survival or for their daily bread.

When Robinson Crusoe wrote, Defoe was inspired by the story of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who survived alone on
the island of Juan Fernandez for five years. The hero in Defoe’s novel is Robinson Crusoe, who belongs to the middle class,
who at the age of nineteen, decides to leave his home and the prospect of a comfortable life to travel around the world and
make his fortune. On his second trip to Guinea, he is captured by Moorish pirates but manages to escape and is eventually
rescued by a Portuguese ship bound for Brazil, where he becomes the owner of a plantation. On a voyage to Africa he was
shipwrecked on a deserted island where he remained for 28 years. After twelve years, he finds a human footprint on the
shore, left by the cannibals. Robinson decides to attack the cannibals, but they escape leaving one of their prisoners and
Crusoe decides to call him on Friday. Later, other cannibals arrive on the island and Robinson and Friday decide to attack
them; they manage to free two men, one of whom turns out to be Friday’s father. The novel ends with Robinson’s return to
England and his discovery that his plantation has prospered and made him very rich.

The setting for most of the story is the desert island. Robinson organizes his own form of a primitive empire on the island, Friday is
the first native character to be portrayed in the English novel. It is attractive and lively. The first word that Robinson teaches him after
saving him is 'master'. Then he continues to teach him Western culture and read the Bible; so Friday becomes the symbol of
colonization.

The novel is narrated in first person and provides a realistic description of everyday life. The language is simple, factual and
concrete, to reinforce the impression of reality conveyed by the narrative in first person.

the most relevant themes are pragmatism and individualism. Infact Defoe thinks that the individual can modify the reality through
hard work, even if everythong Is decided by god. After that, there are a lot of references ti God, sin, Providence that show the
importance It has. Robinson used the bible as a guide and prays God to be saved by sin. he had a constant conflict between good
and evil

The hero, Robinson Crusoe, is a Scottish gentleman who kills his friend Patrick in a duel. To escape Patrick’s brother, Crusoe joins
the merchant navy and a typhoon wrecks him near the coast of New Guinea. Crusoe decides to build a shelter and grow food. One
day he finds a tribe of a nearby island that makes human sacrifices and manages to save one of the prisoners; he names the man
Friday and teaches him to call him Master. Later some tribes land on the island in force. Crusoe and Friday defend the island, but
Crusoe is hit by an arrow. Friday she’s taking him to his home island. When they arrive there, the Friday tribe captures Crusoe and
forces him to fight Friday to the death for his freedom. A group of European explorers rescues Crusoe and takes him back to
Scotland.

Swift was born and educated in Dublin and became secretary to Sir William Temple, a Whig statesman, who encouraged him to
write satirical works. Among his best satires were: The Battle of the Books (1704) , A Tale of a Tub (1704). He lived in Dublin and
began to write pamphlets denouncing the injustices suffered by Ireland. These included The Drapier’s Letters (1724-1725). In 1726
he published his masterpiece, Gulliver’s Travels. He died in 1745

Swift is one of the most controversial English writers. Some critics think he was a misanthrope, others consider him a lover of
humanity. His works show themes related to politics and society and that he had a conservative attitude. He described man as an
animal capable of reasoning and felt that reason was an instrument that had to be used correctly.

Swift is considered the greatest ironist in English. In his texts he uses irony, allegory and satire to criticize 18th century England. Use
a simple style and use irony to engage the reader and push them to find an unexpected meaning

Gulliver’s voyages consist of four parts, each of which deals with the various adventures of the ship’s surgeon, Lemuel Gulliver.
1. Gulliver arrives in the South Pacific and is thrown on the shore of Lilliput, where he falls asleep. The inhabitants of the
earth, the Lilliputians host him in an unused temple. Gulliver gradually learns their language and customs and gets the
king’s favor. After many fun experiences, he manages to return to England.

2. Gulliver arrives at Brobdingnag. His status leads him to have many misadventures: he must escape from mice as big as
lions and wasps as birds. Taken by a farmer, he is then sold to the queen and finally becomes the king’s pet. One day,
Gulliver’s cage is raised by a huge bird and thrown into the ocean. He is saved and returns to England.

3. Gulliver’s ship is attacked by pirates and arrives on the flying island of Laputa, where the inhabitants are distracted
astronomers, philosophers and scientists. Gulliver visits their capital, Lagado, and its academy, where absurd experiments
 are conducted. The most unhappy people you meet are those who were born immortal, because immortality does not
imply being young forever. He eventually returns to England.

4. Gulliver’s last journey takes him to Houyhnhm Land, an island inhabited by horses with reason. Gulliver admires the
superiority of the Houyhnhm and is ashamed of its resemblance to the Yahoos, human-like animals. When the horses
banish him, he builds a canoe and sets off for England, but when he returns he can’t stand the smell of humanity and
goes to live in the stable among the animals because they remind him of the noble Houyhhnm.

At the end of the novel, Gulliver became a completely different person. At the beginning he is middle-aged, educated and sensitive;
he is an attentive observer. He takes care of his family and manages his business with prudence. He has experience of the world
and fully supports the culture that produced it. However, when circumstances force him to think, he begins to develop a critical
awareness of the limits of European values. On the second journey, critical awareness becomes deeper. For the fourth journey,
Gulliver’s transformation is complete. When he returns to England, he can no longer participate in European society, not even with
his friends and family.

Gulliver is a fictional character. Each of Gulliver’s experiences is in stark contrast to the previous one.
He recounts his experiences firsthand, in a prose style, and records the observed details with scientific precision.

One of the main ingredients of satire is distortion or exaggeration, because it allows the writer to play out three different
perspectives in order to give the reader a comic sense of what is very familiar.

The novel can be read on several levels: 1) a children’s tale; 2) a political allegory of Swift’s time; 3) a parody of travel literature; 4)
a masterpiece of misanthropy and a reflection on the aberrations of human reason. The most common interpretation is that Swift
was simply a conservative pessimist who wanted to ridicule Europeans' claims to rationality. A second interpretation stated that he
was mentally deranged and therefore the reader did not need to seriously consider the end of the book.