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A Sermon by the "Queen of Whores".(Daniel Defoe's 'Roxana')(Critical Essay)

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From: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900
Date: 20010622
Author:WESTFALL, MARILYN

Daniel Defoe's Roxana seems to resist interpretation, though it has been scrutinized for its likeness to a trade manual, a spiritual autobiography, and a "'woman's novel.'" [1] Leopold Damrosch, for instance, remarks with some exasperation on his attempt to define Roxana's "inner logic": "We cannot know exactly what Defoe thought he was doing in this enigmatic novel, but we do know that it was his last. As one critic puts it, 'Defoe stopped when he reached the end.'" [2] One prominent debate concerns the novel's religious allusions, as when Roxana reflects: "So possible is it for ...

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