A Journal of the Plague Year
Title page of the original edition in 1722
Author	Daniel Defoe
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Historical novel
Publisher	E. Nutt
Publication date	1722
ISBN	NA

A Journal of the Plague Year is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in March 1722. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 336 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (607 × 1083 pixel, file size: 99 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Title page of the original edition of Daniel Defoes A Journal of the Plague Year. ... Daniel Defoe (1659/1661 [?] â€“ April 24 [?], 1731)[1] was a British writer, journalist, and spy, who gained enduring fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A historical novel a novel in which the story is set among historical events, or more generally, in which the time of the action predates the lifetime of the author. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... See also: 1721 in literature, other events of 1722, 1723 in literature, list of years in literature. ... ISBN redirects here. ... For other uses, see Novel (disambiguation). ... Daniel Defoe (1659/1661 [?] â€“ April 24 [?], 1731)[1] was a British writer, journalist, and spy, who gained enduring fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. ... See also: 1721 in literature, other events of 1722, 1723 in literature, list of years in literature. ...

The novel is a fictionalised account of one man's experiences of the year 1665, in which the Great Plague struck the city of London. The book is told roughly chronologically, though without sections or chapter headings. For other uses, see Fiction (disambiguation). ... Year 1665 (MDCLXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... A bill of mortality for the plague year of 1665. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Chronology is the science of locating events in time. ...

Although it purports to have been written several years after the event, it actually was written in the years just prior to the book's first publication in March 1722. Defoe was only five years old in 1665, and the book itself was published under the initials H. F. The novel probably was based on the journals of Defoe's uncle, Henry Foe.

In the book, Defoe goes to great pains to achieve an effect of verisimilitude, identifying specific neighborhoods, streets, and even houses in which events took place. Additionally, it provides tables of casualty figures and discusses the credibility of various accounts and anecdotes received by the narrator. For other uses, see Verisimilitude (disambiguation). ...

The novel often is compared to the actual, contemporary accounts of the plague in the diary of Samuel Pepys. Defoe's account, although fictionalized, is far more systematic and detailed than Pepys's first-person account. Samuel Pepys, FRS (23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, who is now most famous for his diary. ...

Popular culture

• In the Daria telemovie Is It Fall Yet?, A Journal of the Plague Year is on Daria's bed when Helen, surprised, overhears Daria consoling Quinn. When she is discovered, Helen makes the excuse that she came to Daria's room to borrow a book from Daria, unknowingly grabbing A Journal of the Plague Year off the bed and shuddering in disgust when she figures out which book she took.
• The movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail incorporates several elements from the novel, including the phrase "Bring out your dead" and the idea of carting off a man who is still alive to be buried.
• During the 1966 film Fahrenheit 451, directed by Francois Truffaut, a copy of A Journal of the Plague Year can be seen being burnt during the book burning scene at Montag's house.

For St. ... A television movie (also TV movie, TV-movie, made-for-TV movie, etc. ... Is It Fall Yet? is the first of two movie-length installments featured in MTVs animated series Daria. ... Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1975 film written and performed by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin), and directed by Gilliam and Jones. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see Fahrenheit 451 (disambiguation). ... This article is about the novel. ... François Roland Truffaut (February 6, 1932–October 21, 1984) was one of the founders of the French New Wave in filmmaking, and remains an icon of the French film industry. ... Guy Montag is the central character in Ray Bradburys 1953 novel, Fahrenheit 451. ...

External links

• A Journal of the Plague Year, available at Project Gutenberg.