To follow-up on Defoe’s The Storm, which I finished two days ago. I wasn’t expecting to like the book as much as I did. I do recommend it and I think there is plenty of places to get it for free these days. Just a couple of things I found interesting listed below.
- The majority of the book is composed of excerpts from letters that were sent to Defoe from all parts of England describing the Storm. Defoe takes a back seat and acts as a curator more than anything. Letters from the coast were written by sailors who witnessed the storm while out at sea. Letters from inland described the destruction of churches and homes. To give you an idea of the kind of entries in these chapters of the book:
In Threadneedle-Street, one Mr. Simpson, a Scrivener being in Bed and fast a-sleep, heard nothing of the Storm; but the rest of the Family being more sensible of Danger, some of them went up, and wak’d him; and
telling him their own Apprehensions, press’d him to rise; but he too fatally sleepy, and consequently unconcern’d at the Danger, told them, he did not apprehend any Thing; and so, notwithstanding all their Persuasions, could not be prevailed with to rise: they had not been gone many Minutes out of his Chamber, before the Chimneys fell in, broke through the Roof over him, and kill’d him in his Bed.
Many people died because of falling Chimneys in this book. The descriptions aren’t graphic at all, but they did make me realize I’m reading things that actually happened, not a work of fiction (more on this later). I also think that Defoe himself must have known that the book would inspire morbid curiosity because there’s a section of the book that basically says “Remarkable Deaths.” for ex.:
In the City of London, and in Covent Garden and other Parts about London and Westminster, five or six Persons were killed outright by the Fall of Houses and Chimneys; especially one Mr. Luke Blith an Attorney, that lived at or near Stamford in the County of Lincoln, was killed that Day by the fall of a Riding-House not far from
Pickadilla: and there are some very remarkable Circumstances in this Man’s Case, which do make his Death to appear at least like a most eminent Judgment and severe Stroak of the Lord’s Hand upon him.
The moral dimension of the Storm is very palpable in several points in the book, sometimes expressed by Defoe himself, other times in stories like these:
On Innocent’s Day, in the Afternoon, several Morrice-Dancers came thither from Grimsby; and after they had Danc’d and play’d their Tricks, they went towards Alesby, a little Town not far off: and as they were going about Five a Clock, they felt two such terrible Shocks of the Earth, that they had much ado to hold their Feet, and thought the Ground was ready to open, and swallow 'em up. Whereupon thinking that God was angry at 'em for playing the Fool, they return’d immediately to Laceby in a great Fright, and the next Day home, not daring to pursue their intended Circuit and Dancing.
Apparently lots of people reported that there was not only a great storm, but an earthquake as well. The final category of entry is rueful description of destroyed churches:
It is the fineness of our Church which magnifies our present loss, for in the whole it is a large and noble structure, compos’d within and without of Ashler curiously wrought, and consisting of a stately Roof in the middle, and two Isles runing a considerable length from one end of it to the other, makes a very beautiful Figure. It is also adorn’d with 28 admired and Celebrated Windows, which, for the variety and fineness of the Painted Glass that was in them, do justly attract the Eyes of all curious Travellers to inspect and behold them; nor is it more famous for its Glass, than newly renown’d for the Beauty of its Seats and Paving, both being chiefly the noble Gift of that pious and worthy Gentleman Andrew Barker, Esq; the late Deceas’d Lord of the Mannor. So that all things consider’d, it does equal, at least, if not exceed, any Parochial Church in England.
There were multiple letters like the one above.
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The idea of people sending in stories like these to be included in a book meant to capture the impact of the storm is interesting to think about. In this article, the book is described as being one of the first examples of modern journalism. I haven’t read the article because its paywalled and I dont want to give money to the WSJ lol. But it made me wonder, what would something like this look like today? Reporting on natural disasters no longer seem to have this moral dimension to it. Defoe makes explicit references to how this book is composed in service to capital P Posterity. He might be too boastful but part of me feels like the sentimentality around putting the book together is genuine.
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Related to the above, my enjoyment of this book made me do a double-take halfway through. I think I enjoyed the book as a work of literature and not simply as a work of journalism. I thought: how can I say I’m having a “great time” reading a book like about a natural catastrophe
? That was a poor choice of words in my original comment. But I think it’s curious how we can read this book in a completely different light vs. it’s original intention. I think this is my first time reading a book as if it were a historical artifact. For some reason, novels and fiction from those eras feel like novels first and foremost, not historical texts, if that makes any sense.
This post ended up being longer than expected, but hopefully you find the quoted passages as interesting(?) as I did.