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EspañolCHARLES JOHNSON (PIRATE BIOGRAPHER)
'Captain Charles Johnson' is the author of the 1724 book ''A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates'', though his identity remains a mystery. No record of a captain by this name exists, and circumstantial evidence suggests "Charles Johnson" was really Daniel Defoe writing under a pen name, but this has yet to be proven. If true, the pseudonym was perhaps chosen to reflect the playwright Charles Johnson, who had an unsuccessful play with ''The Successful Pyrate'' in 1712, which glamorized the career of Henry Avery and had been something of a scandal for seeming to praise a criminal[1]. Following it, however, many authors would rush forward with biographies and catalogs of criminals, including catalogs of highwaymen and prostitutes. By this theory, the pseudonymous "Charles Johnson" of the pirate catalog was merely taking part in a burgeoning industry in criminal biography.
The original publisher, Charles Rivington, emphasized the fact that the catalogue (largely assembled from Admiralty Court records and a few interviews) included stories of "the remarkable ACTIONS and ADVENTURES of the two Female Pyrates, ''Mary Read'' and ''Anne Bonny''" (op. cit. Druett 105). A second edition, vastly enlarged and most likely assembled from writings by other authors than the original, came out within a few months. A German and Dutch translation were published in 1725 (Druett 105). These German and Dutch language versions greatly played up the salaciousness of the accounts of "Amazon" pirates.
★ A General History of the Pyrates
★ Article comparing Defoe and Johnson
★ Robert Dryden, Hillyer College, University of Hartford. "The Successful Pyrate. A Play. As it is acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane." The Literary Encyclopedia. 23 Oct. 2006. The Literary Dictionary Company. 3 June 2007.
★ Druett, Joan. ''She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea.'' New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000.
The original publisher, Charles Rivington, emphasized the fact that the catalogue (largely assembled from Admiralty Court records and a few interviews) included stories of "the remarkable ACTIONS and ADVENTURES of the two Female Pyrates, ''Mary Read'' and ''Anne Bonny''" (op. cit. Druett 105). A second edition, vastly enlarged and most likely assembled from writings by other authors than the original, came out within a few months. A German and Dutch translation were published in 1725 (Druett 105). These German and Dutch language versions greatly played up the salaciousness of the accounts of "Amazon" pirates.
| Contents |
| See also |
| External links |
| References |
See also
★ A General History of the Pyrates
External links
★ Article comparing Defoe and Johnson
★ Robert Dryden, Hillyer College, University of Hartford. "The Successful Pyrate. A Play. As it is acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane." The Literary Encyclopedia. 23 Oct. 2006. The Literary Dictionary Company. 3 June 2007.
References
★ Druett, Joan. ''She Captains: Heroines and Hellions of the Sea.'' New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000.
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