It's the plaaaaaague!

[damned_colonial]

It's July 1st. Let the "Plagues and Pandemics" discussion begin!

I'll be posting some questions/prompts for discussion over the next month, at least one a week and hopefully a bit more than that. If anyone else has points for discussion, please feel free to post with them. I am responsible for making sure *some* discussion posts happen, but I'm happy to share!

For now I'd like to open up with something very general:

What have you noticed are the main similarities and differences between the various plague stories you've read?

What impressions did you get regarding the author's historical research? How do you think the author's understanding of the period in question affected the way the story was told?

Comments

[al_zorra]

I knew that -- but even today we have many journalism works published post the time of occurance.

However, though Defoe didn't live in the period of the Great Plague, London experienced frequent epidemics of greater and lesser degree during his lifetime that carried off significant numbers of Londoners in a short period.

The highest total of deaths of an epidemic in London was in 1681, fatal smallpox. It returned with high fatalities in 1689 and 1691. Defor was 29 in 1689 and 30 in 1691. The Queen died in London of smallpox in 1694.

Here's a history of plagues and epidemics in London.

Love, C.