Aphra Behn: The Incomparable Astrea

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The Younger Brother: Or, The Amorous Jilt. A Comedy, Acted at the Theatre Royal, By His Majesty's Servants (London: Printed for J. Harris & sold by R. Baldwin, 1696). The criticism of Behn's poetry focuses on the themes of gender, sexuality, femininity, pleasure, and love. A feminist critique tends to focus on Behn's inclusion of female pleasure and sexuality in her poetry, which was a radical concept at the time she was writing. Like her contemporary male libertines, she wrote freely about sex. In the infamous poem " The Disappointment" she wrote a comic account of male impotence from a woman's perspective. [22] Critics Lisa Zeitz and Peter Thoms contend that the poem "playfully and wittily questions conventional gender roles and the structures of oppression which they support". [39] One critic, Alison Conway, views Behn as instrumental to the formation of modern thought around the female gender and sexuality: "Behn wrote about these subjects before the technologies of sexuality we now associate were in place, which is, in part, why she proves so hard to situate in the trajectories most familiar to us". [40] Virginia Woolf wrote, in A Room of One's Own: Todd, Janet. The Works of Aphra Behn. 7 vols. Ohio State University Press, 1992–1996. (Currently most up-to-date edition of her collected works)

Women, education, and agency, 1600–2000. Jean Spence, Sarah Jane Aiston, Maureen M. Meikle. New York: Routledge. 2010. ISBN 978-0-415-99005-9. OCLC 298467847. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: others ( link) A Congratulatory Poem to Her Most Sacred Majesty on the Universal Hopes of all Loyal Persons for a Prince of Wales (London: Printed for W. Canning, 1688). His biography was governed by the thesis that adherence to social and political progress makes for aesthetic worth. In proving Behn to be not only a substantial writer but a political radical, he provided further evidence of this belief, but he also vindicated his own valuing of a previously obscure and minor writer.

34. You Can’t Sit With Us!

The Lady's Looking-Glass, to dress herself by; or, The Whole Art of Charming (London: W. Onley for S. Briscoe, 1697).

Behn writes, then, as the representative of all women, allying herself openly with women against men in the war conventionally called love. She tells her friend Carola, "Lady Morland at Tunbridge," that even though she is a rival for Behn's lover, when she saw her, she grew to admire and love her. Because of that, she warns, beware of taking my lover as your own—he is experienced and can slip the chains of love. You deserve a virgin, she says, someone who has never loved before, who only has eyes for you and has a "soul as Great as you are Fair." In 1915, Montague Summers, an author of scholarly works on the English drama of the 17th century, published a six-volume collection of her work, in hopes of rehabilitating her reputation. Summers was fiercely passionate about the work of Behn and found himself incredibly devoted to the appreciation of 17th century literature. [16] Shortly after her supposed return to England from Surinam in 1664, Behn may have married Johan Behn (also written as Johann and John Behn). He may have been a merchant of German or Dutch extraction, possibly from Hamburg. [7] [13] He died or the couple separated soon after 1664; however, from this point the writer used "Mrs Behn" as her professional name. [8] In correspondence, she occasionally signed her name as Behne or Beane. [2] The Feign'd Curtizans, Or, A Nights Intrigue. A Comedy. As it is Acted at the Dukes Theatre (London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1679). The history of the nun, or, The fair vow-breaker written by Mrs. A. Behn". quod.lib.umich.edu . Retrieved 22 December 2021.Hargrave, Jocelyn (January 2017). "Aphra Behn: Cultural translator and editorial intermediary". Cerae: An Australasian Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. 4: 1–31. The Memoirs were published as the preface to a collected edition of Behn's prose works: and in effect, they capitalized on the sexiness of the woman to sell her works. Behn's adult life had conveniently spanned precisely the reigns of Charles II and James II, and in presenting her as sexual libertine, her biographer inevitably linked her to the glittering and heady world of the Restoration court.

Business and the rules of honor are also rejected in favor of a natural and easy "Love" in the poem "A Farewel to Celladon, On his Going into Ireland." These verses ask Celladon why he bothers with boring government business ("To Toyl, be Dull, and to be Great"), when he knows that success will not bring happiness. It is more important, the speaker advises him, to enjoy the company of his close good friend, Damon, to whom Celladon is "by Sacred Friendship ty'd," and from whom "Love nor Fate can nere divide" him. The tradition of close male friendships has both a literary and social history based in the classics. In this "Pindarique," Behn elevates such a relationship over politics and commerce. In her other poems as well, there is a precedence of close personal relationships over public enterprise. The portrayal of many of these relationships is in the classical pastoral tradition, and several of the poems also present the classical concept of the person with attributes of both sexes, the androgyne or hermaphrodite. One of her best-known verses, happily juxtaposed to " The Disappointment ," is " The Willing Mistriss ." This poem describes how the female speaker becomes so aroused by the excellent courtship of her lover that she is "willing to receive / That which I dare not name." After three verses describing their lovemaking, she concludes with the coy suggestion, "Ah who can guess the rest?" The poem is a good example of Behn's treatment of conventional courtly and pastoral modes, as is " Love Armed ," which describes Cupid's power to enamour.

16. It Pays to Pray

a b c d e f g h Britland, Karen (2 January 2021). "Aphra Behn's first marriage?". The Seventeenth Century. 36 (1): 33–53. doi: 10.1080/0268117X.2019.1693420. ISSN 0268-117X. S2CID 214340536. Sometime in the early 1980s I joined a queue outside a sci-fi bookshop in London to have my copy of The Magic Labyrinth signed by its author, the celebrated sci-fi writer Philip José Farmer. When I reached the head of the line, I asked him which of the many characters (the book features the entire human population being resurrected) was his favourite, expecting him to nominate Richard Burton, Alice Liddell (of Wonderland fame) or Mark Twain. But he hesitated, thought for a moment, and said: ‘It changes, but at the moment, I find myself fascinated by Aphra Behn.’ I wasn’t sure how to answer that. I had never even heard of this person (was this a man? A woman?). I mutely collected my inscribed copy and went home to read it. Eventually I came across the character and when she is introduced, Farmer gives a pithy and accurate summary of her importance: All women together, ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn... for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds... Behn proved that money could be made by writing at the sacrifice, perhaps, of certain agreeable qualities; and so by degrees writing became not merely a sign of folly and a distracted mind but was of practical importance. [41]

Abraham Cowley: "Of Trees" ("Sylva"), in Six Books of Plants (1689). Translation of the sixth book of Plantarum libri sex (1668). [58] Miscellany, Being A Collection Of Poems By Several Hands. Together with Reflections on Morality, Or Seneca Unmasqued, includes ten poems by Behn (London: Printe Behn kept scandalous company. She was good friends with Charles II’s most popular mistress, the stage actress Nell Gwyn.

28. Old York Time’s Bestseller

Her best-known works are Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave, sometimes described as an early novel, and the play The Rover. [6] Life and work [ edit ] Versions of her early life [ edit ]