Defoe's 'A Journal of the Plague Year' (1722) offers a chillingly detailed, eyewitness-style account of the Great Plague of London. What makes the authorship of this text historically complex?
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Correct answer: The 1665 plague struck when Defoe was about five; the text is researched historical fiction.
Though written as an authentic first-person diary by a saddler initials 'H.F.', Defoe constructed 'A Journal of the Plague Year' using heavy historical research, statistical bills of mortality, and childhood memories of the 1665 disaster. Published during a 1720 plague scare in Marseilles, it serves as a brilliant early masterpiece of historical reconstruction passing as immediate journalism. It showcases Defoe's ability to manufacture absolute authenticity.
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