An Answer to a Question that Nobody thinks of, viz., But what if the Queen

Daniel DefoeProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.4

Word count: 51K words
Chapters: 6

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.An Answer to a Question that Nobody thinks of, viz., But what if the QueenAuthor: Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731,Language: English, Class: DA: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Great Britain, Ireland, Central Europe, Release Date: Jul 9, 2011

Editor's review

This is a political pamphlet by Defoe, and its title is itself a deft rhetorical question: what if something should happen to the Queen—what then becomes of the nation? Defoe uses this "question nobody thinks of" to enter the issues of succession and political stability in England at the time, and the writing has a polemical and satirical edge. Its value lies not in narrative but in showing readers what English political writing in the early eighteenth century looked like: short, direct, and driven by rhetorical questions. For readers studying Defoe's nonfiction, the British political pamphlet tradition, or early journalistic writing, this is a usable primary text. Readers should not expect novelistic entertainment; it is better treated as a specimen of argument in its historical context, and only when read alongside some knowledge of politics in Queen Anne's reign does its pointedness come through. The Project Gutenberg edition is easy to search and cite, making it suitable for close reading or classroom discussion.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars studying Defoe's political writing and eighteenth-century English political prose
Readers interested in the British succession and the political context of Queen Anne's reign
Literature students who need a short English political text for close reading

Not a good fit for

General readers expecting a narrative novel in the manner of Robinson Crusoe
Casual readers without a background in early modern British history who want an easy introduction

Reading tips

Learn about the succession controversy under Queen Anne before reading the text, so the rhetorical question's real target is clear
Treat it as a political pamphlet rather than a literary work, and focus on argumentative structure and rhetorical strategy
Read it alongside other Defoe pamphlets to observe common features of his polemical method

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel?

No. It is a political pamphlet by Defoe, built around the question "what if something should happen to the Queen?" It is nonfiction argumentative writing, different in genre from novels such as Robinson Crusoe.

Can I read it without a background in British history?

You can, but understanding will suffer. The succession and political stability issues discussed have a specific historical context, and without that background it is easy to see only the literal question. It is advisable to acquire some basic knowledge of politics in Queen Anne's reign first.

What are the features of this edition?

This is an English electronic text released by Project Gutenberg, easy to search, copy, and cite, and suitable for close reading or teaching. It provides no modern annotations or introduction, so readers must supply the historical background themselves.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Daniel Defoe Author · British · 1660–1731

Daniel Defoe (1661?–1731) was an English novelist, political writer and journalist, and a founding figure of realist fiction in the English Enlightenment. His birth year is recorded variously; the library lists 1660, and he died in 1731. A prolific author, he is represented here by 59 works, the best known being Robinson Crusoe, alongside Moll Flanders and A Journal of the Plague Year. His novels often follow individual fortunes and adventures, written in a plain, concrete and realistic style that presents characters' circumstances and choices in unadorned narrative, and his influence on the development of English realist fiction is far-reaching. Commonly classified under inspirational growth, his works are still read today as important accounts of endurance and self-reliance.