Why read a book whose ending gets spoiled on the first page? For eighteenth-century readers, there were plenty of reasons, especially if they were reading Daniel Defoe. Katie Lanning tells us more on today’s Why Should I Read This.
Imagine sitting down with a new novel and you turn to the title page and it gives away every major plot point of the story. Talk about a spoiler alert. Would you still want to read it? And what you be reading for if not the plot? When readers in 1722 sat down with Daniel Defoe's newest book, "Moll Flanders," they knew from its title page every rise and fall of Moll's life story. But they read on anyway. Voraciously. What for? Depends who you ask. As Moll narrates her adventures as a wife turned mistress turned pickpocket turned London criminal mastermind turned penitent convict, Defoe paints a perfectly ambiguous picture. We're reading a moral and didactic story of repentance and forgiveness. What? No we're not, we're reading a sharply ironic story of a serial criminal who takes advantage of every unwitting victim she encounters including her readers. Or are we?Ultimately, whether we're reading for a lesson or for some delicious irony, Defoe delivers.
