Multiple personality in Preface to Roxana (post 1) by Daniel Defoe (post 2): The novel is a collaboration between the character and writer personalities.

Roxana is the first-person narrative of a beautiful lady. According to the preface (see below), the narrative is her words, somewhat dressed up by the Relator and edited by the Writer, especially to avoid indecencies. The Writer knew Roxana’s first husband and father-in-law, and the veracity of that part of her narrative suggests to him that the rest of it is true, too.

Are the Relator and the Writer the same person? If they are, why use the two different names, and why use “we” in the preface’s last sentence? Or, perhaps, “we” refers to the writer and Defoe.

Indeed, who wrote the preface? If Daniel Defoe wrote the preface, then he is not The Writer, unless Defoe is referring to himself in the third-person (which people with multiple personality sometimes do).

Preface (abridged) 

“The History of this Beautiful Lady, is to speak for itself: If it is not as Beautiful as the Lady herself is reported to be…the Relator says, it must be from the Defect of his Performance; dressing up the Story in worse Cloaths than the Lady, whose words he speaks…

“The Writer says, He was particularly acquainted with this Lady’s First Husband…and with his Father…and knows that first Part of the Story to be Truth…This may, he hopes, be a Pledge for the Credit of the rest…she has told it herself…

“If there are any Parts of her Story, which being oblig’d to relate a wicked Action, seem to describe it too plainly, the Writer says, all imaginable Care has been taken to keep clear of Indecencies…

“In the mean time, the Advantages of the present Work are so great, and the Virtuous Reader has room for so much Improvement, that we make no Question, the Story…will…be read both with Profit and Delight.”

Comment: In past posts, many other writers have been quoted as saying how their characters are like alternate personalities who come to them (not from them) and tell their story to a writer personality. The latter may or may not be the same as the regular, everyday, host personality.

According to this preface, the writer personality knew and spoke with three other personalities—Roxana, her first husband, and his father—and got Roxana’s whole story directly from her, with partial corroboration from the other two.

To whom does “we” refer? Relator & Writer? Writer & Defoe? Roxana, Writer, and Defoe? All I can say is that “we,” when used in regard to one person, refers to more than one personality.

The only other possibility I can think of is that “we” is an editorial “we” of the publisher. But it seems unlikely that the publisher would say the writer knew Roxana’s relatives.

Daniel Defoe. Roxana, The Fortunate Mistress, or, a History of the Life and Vast Variety of Fortunes of Mademoiselle de Beleau, afterwards called the Countess de Wintselsheim in Germany, Being the Person known by the Name of the Lady Roxana in the time of Charles II. Edited with an introduction and Notes by John Mullan. Oxford University Press, 1724/2008.