Audiobook · read by volunteers
À Journal of the Plague Year
Daniel Defoe (1660–1731)
Read by Denny Sayers (d. 2015) · 25 chapters · 12 h 04
About the book
London, 1665. A sickness creeps in from the outskirts, then through the parish, then through the whole city, and soon the bills of mortality are rising week after week. A saddler who stays in the city tells us what he sees and hears: the shuttered houses, the red crosses on the doors, the carts that gather the dead by night, the rumours, the quack remedies, the flight of the wealthy and the plight of the poor. The narrator wanders the streets, weighing whether to flee or remain, and records everything with the steady curiosity of a reporter. Daniel Defoe wrote this account decades after the event and gave it the force of an eyewitness record. It is a book about fear, prudence and community, as disturbing as it is gripping, and it will reward twelve hours of your attention.
Introduction
Daniel Defoe lived from 1660 to 1731. A merchant, pamphleteer and journalist before he turned to fiction late in life, he is best remembered for Robinson Crusoe, which appeared in 1719. A Journal of the Plague Year followed in 1722. Defoe was a small child when the Great Plague struck London in 1665, so the book is not a diary of his own experience. It is a work of fiction, built on documents, memories and the accounts of survivors, and told in the voice of a London tradesman who signs himself with only his initials.
What makes the book so compelling is its method. Defoe fills the narrative with figures, lists and local detail, naming streets and parishes, and he gives the story the texture of fact. The result blurs, in an interesting way, the line between novel and reportage, and many readers have been unsure how much of it is invention. It is generally regarded as one of the early masterpieces of that blend.
The recording was made by LibriVox volunteers and lasts about twelve hours. The text has no chapter headings, so the recording is divided into twenty-five parts, which follow the story roughly in order of time.
Why listen now? Because the book describes, with great precision, how a society reacts to an epidemic: the denial, the rumours, the search for scapegoats, and the acts of ordinary courage. These themes have lost none of their force, and Defoe's calm, observant voice is a surprisingly good guide.
Public domain
Daniel Defoe died in 1731: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text