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==Introduction==
There are some literary characters that become part of popular the culture and have entered the popular imagination. A select few fictional personages have achieved great fame and even mythic status. One of these is Robinson Crusoe, the hero of an eponymous set of novels. This character has inspired many other literary works, many movies and there is even an island named after the hero of the great survival story. It is still a popular favorite with children and those who simply love a good yarn. However, the figure of Robinson Crusoe is widely believed to have been based on a real historical figure. In this article, there is a discussion about the author who created the memorable hero, his adventures and the likely models for the immortal literary creation.
[[File: Robinson crusoe one.jpg|200px|thumb|left|A statue of Robinson Crusoe in Scotland]]
==The man who created Robinson Crusoe==
The author, who created the memorable character led a life that was almost as colorful as Robinson Crusoe’s adventures. Daniel Defoe was born into a humble family in London in 1660. He was educated in a private school and later became an entrepreneur but went bankrupt. Defoe traveled widely in Europe. The writer was very interested in politics and he became embroiled in the bitter political battles of the Tories and the Whigs. Defoe was a supporter of the Tories and he wrote a number of pamphlets in support of their conservative policies <ref>Novak, Maximillian E. Daniel Defoe: Master of Fictions: His Life and Ideas (Oxford, Oxford, University Press, 2001), pp 45-85</ref>. He wrote a great many works that attacked Christians who were not members of the Church of England and foreigners. In 1713 his polemics led to his imprisonment and being sentenced to the pillory. This meant that he was placed in a wooden framework with holes for the head and hands and members of the public pelted him with rotten fruit and garbage. However, this made him a hero in the eyes of many Tories. Later Defoe became a spy for the leader of the Tory faction. Later in life when the Tories fell from power he began to work with the Whigs’ and he seemed to have been a double agent. After 1714, Defoe began to concentrate more on his creative writings and less on his journalism <ref>Novak, p 324</ref>. In 1719 he wrote Robinson Crusoe, and this was a great success, so much so that he wrote a sequel a few years later. Defoe was an important figure in the development of the English novel. Among the other important novels that he wrote was Moll Flanders (1722) and Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress (1724). He was a prolific author and was popular with the public, but he was always in debt and several times was imprisoned in a debtors’ prison. Defoe died in 1731.