Daniel Defoe, The Consolidator

Penny Pritchard (University of Hertfordshire)
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The Consolidator

is a remarkable hybrid of fantasy mixed with contemporary social and political satire. Unique in Defoe's canon for its settings (including, among other places, China and the moon), its material derives from the more familiar Defoean context of urban life in early eighteenth-century England. The name of the work was inspired by a political crisis in November 1704, one which nearly ousted from power the moderate Tory government of Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford (1661-1724). Tensions in Parliament, already strained over the issue of civil liberties for Protestant Dissenters (q.v.), came close to breaking point when High Church (q.v.) Tory zealots tried (for a third time in three years) to pass an Occasional Conformity (q.v.) bill by “tacking” or “consolidating” it…

1179 words

Citation: Pritchard, Penny. "The Consolidator". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 January 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1183, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1183 The Consolidator 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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