Aphra Behn (July 10, 1640 – April 16, 1689) was a prolific dramatist of the Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing participated in the amatory fiction genre of British literature.
The personal history of Aphra Behn, one of the first Englishwomen credited to earn their livelihood by authorship , is unusually interesting but very difficult to unravel and relate. Information regarding her, especially her early life, is scant, but she was almost certainly born in Wye, near Canterbury, on July 10, 1640 to Bartholomew Johnson, a barber, and Elizabeth Denham. Aphra's parents were married in 1638 and Aphra, or Eaffry, was baptized on December 14, 1640. Elizabeth Denham was employed as a nurse to the wealthy Colepeper family, who lived locally, which means that it is likely that Aphra grew up with and spent time with the family's children. The younger child, Thomas Colepeper, later described Aphra as his foster sister.
In 1663 Aphra...
Created by dipity on Jan 23, 2008
Last updated: 03/05/10 at 10:13 PM
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Aphra Behn died
Oroonoko is a short novel by Aphra Behn (June 10 1640 – April 16 1689), published in 1688, concerning the tragic love of its hero, an enslaved African in Surinam in the 1660s, and the author's own experiences in the new South American colony. It is generally claimed (most famously by Virginia Woolf) that Aphra Behn was the first professional female author in English, living entirely by her own earnings. While this is not entirely true, Behn was the first professional female dramatist, as well as one of the first English novelists, male or female. Although she had written at least one novel previously, Aphra Behn's Oroonoko is both one of the earliest English novels and one of the earliest by a woman. Behn worked for Charles II as a spy during the outset of the Second Dutch War, working to solicit a double agent. However, Charles either failed to pay her for her services or failed to pay her all that he owed her, and Behn, upon returning to England, needed money. She was...,
Links to vols 1 and 2:THE| AMOURS| OF| PHILANDER| AND| SILVIA:| Being the Third and Last Part| OF THE| Love-Letters| Between a| NOBLE-MAN| AND HIS| SISTER.| [double rule]| LONDON,| Printed, and are to be Sold by most| Book-Sellers, 1687.p.[i] titlepage/ p.[] "Epistle", i.e. dedication to ./ p.1- Text/ 12°To Lord Spencer:Aphra Behn praises Spencer for his noble birth and the glorious future, that is surely destined for him. The author pretends that there are no parallels between Lord Spencer and Cesario, because Spencer would be as loyal as his own father.However, she seems to warn him implicitly of making the same mistakes as Cesario, the character in her book. Cesario is highly ambitious and wants to become King. But he lacks good advice and patience. Therefore his rebellion against the King, his own father, fails and he dies on the scaffold.Silvia: a beautiful young woman, who eloped from her parents with Philander, the husband of her sister; married to Philander's servant Brilljard...,
Links to vols 1 and 3:Love Letters| FROM A| NOBLE MAN| TO HIS| SISTER:| Mixt With the| HISTORY| OF THEIR| ADVENTURES.| [rule]| The Second Part by the| same Hand.| [rule]| LONDON,| Printed for the Author, and are to be sold| by the Booksellers of London, 1685.p.[i] titlepage/ p.[] "Epistle", i.e. dedication to ./ p.1- Text/ 12°Silvia's and Philander's flight to HollandSilvia, dressed like a young man for disguise and calling herself Fillmond, and Philander run away to Holland. Brilljard, who has been married to Silvia to safe her from being married to another man by her parents, and two other men servants accompany them. On their journey they meet a young Hollander, Octavio, who is one of the States of Holland. Quickly, a strong friendship develops between Philander and Octavio. Not knowing that Fillmond is in fact a woman, Octavio nevertheless falls in love with Silvia on their joint journey. Philander confides to Octavio that he has fallen out with his King, and after Philander and...,
Aphra Behn's Love-Letters Between a Noble-Man and his Sister (1684) became the first part of a three volume roman à clef playing with events of the Monmouth Rebellion and exploring the genre of the epistolary novel.Links to vols 2 and 3:Love-Letters| Between a| NOBLE-MAN| And his| SISTER.| [rule]| [ornament]| [rule]| LONDON,| Printed, and are to be sold by| Randal Taylor near Stationer’s| Hall. MDCLXXXIV.p.[i] titlepage/ p.[iii-ixx] "Epistle", i.e. dedication to Thomas Condon, Esq./ p.[xx-xxiv] "The Argument"/ p.1-344 Text/ 12°Cf. detailed bibliography at The Novel in Europe, 1650-1749Aphra Behn, Love-Letters between a Noble-Man and his Sister, pts. 1-3 (1684/ 1685/ 1687)....,
Aphra Behn was born
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