Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Penguin Classics (2005), Paperback, 272 pages
Description
History. Nature. Nonfiction. Geography. HTML: British author Daniel Defoe is known as one of the early innovators of the book-length novel, especially in his works Moll Flanders and Robinson Crusoe. In The Storm, Defoe creates another literary landmark�??the first modern example of long-form journalism. In the book, Defoe, drawing on firsthand accounts, records the impact and aftermath of The Great Storm of 1703, a series of thunderstorms and floods that barraged southern England.
User reviews
LibraryThing member TheWasp
In 1703, Britain was hit by the worst recorded storm in history. It also caused widespread damage to France and Holland. The southern part of Britain suffered most with much damaged to building - Defoe claiming that the problem with churches was their steeples, many toppling in the storm. Thousands
Daniel Defoe placed an advertisement seeking personal experiences of the storm and this book is mainly a collection of those replies. Several letters confirmed the storm was accompanied by an earthquake.
Show More
of trees were uprooted or snapped off and may orchards and farms destroyed. the loss of life was greatest among sailors, with thousands being drowned and many hundreds of ships and smaller vessels lost. or destroyed.Daniel Defoe placed an advertisement seeking personal experiences of the storm and this book is mainly a collection of those replies. Several letters confirmed the storm was accompanied by an earthquake.
Show Less
LibraryThing member bluetongue
Includes three separate works: The Storm; The Lay-Man's Sermon upon the Late Storm; and An Essay on the Late Storm. Hambyln's introduction to the 2003 edition includes extensive biographical notes on Daniel Defoe and commentary on the development of his particular narrative style.
LibraryThing member the.ken.petersen
This is one of the earliest pieces of journalism to survive and a blueprint for any aspiring reporter.
To really appreciate this book, one needs to try to relocate oneself into an early eighteenth century mindset. The Sun (newspaper) was not even a shudder upon the horizon, journalism was only
From this perspective, Defoe's book is an awe inspiring work. He not only records the events from many perspectives, not simply its effect upon the ruling classes, as we might expect now, but also from the man in the street (sometimes literally, if his house had been torn up). Defoe also encouraged people from around the country to send him their account of the storm and, rather than regurgitating these tales as his own, he includes them, verbatim, allowing the reader to decide upon the veracity thereof (Would that twenty-first century reportage were so honest!).
To really appreciate this book, one needs to try to relocate oneself into an early eighteenth century mindset. The Sun (newspaper) was not even a shudder upon the horizon, journalism was only
Show More
slowly emerging from its pamphlet stage and the in depth coverage of a topic was a new concept. Add to this that the UK had just been hit by a storm, the ferocity of which, had never been experienced within recorded memory, and for which nothing had truly prepared the people. From this perspective, Defoe's book is an awe inspiring work. He not only records the events from many perspectives, not simply its effect upon the ruling classes, as we might expect now, but also from the man in the street (sometimes literally, if his house had been torn up). Defoe also encouraged people from around the country to send him their account of the storm and, rather than regurgitating these tales as his own, he includes them, verbatim, allowing the reader to decide upon the veracity thereof (Would that twenty-first century reportage were so honest!).
Show Less
LibraryThing member john257hopper
This is an account by the author more famous as the writer of Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders, of the Great Storm of 1703, one of the most famous weather events in British history, which he described as "The Greatest, the Longest in Duration, the widest in Extent, of all the Tempests and Storms
Show More
that History gives any Account of since the Beginning of Time". This is considered to be one of the first pieces of journalism in a fairly modern sense, and one of the first detailed accounts of a meteorological event. After a brief discussion of ancient Roman and Medieval sources on storms and how awful the weather in Britain was, the bulk of the book consists of various accounts Defoe collected from around the country of the damage and destruction wrought across the country. These accounts show how widespread the devastation and death was, but it is all very repetitive and anecdotal and, to a modern reader, rambling and lacking in analysis or summation. What struck me was that, although this has sometimes been described as the worst storm in British history until superseded by the modern Great Storm of 1987, Defoe reckoned that some 8,000 people died in the 1703 storm (including some in Holland), whereas only 18 died in the 1987 event in Britain (plus four in France). An interesting historical curiosity, though my version appears to be truncated, to my annoyance. Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1704
Physical description
272 p.; 7.72 inches
ISBN
0141439920 / 9780141439921