An Essay on the Original of Literature

The young Daniel Defoe thought he was destined to become a Presbyterian minister. Instead he became a man of letters: poet, political journalist, economic essayist, novelist. In his Essay on the Original of Literature of 1726, Defoe argues for the sacred Hebrew origins of modern writing--or, as he puts it, that "Power to make the Paper speak." The work stands out as a writer's bold glorification of the craft of literature, radically understood.