It is perhaps not altogether easy to appreciate the multiplicity of difficulties with which the first editor of Mrs. Behn has to cope. Not only is her life strangely mysterious and obscure, but the rubbish of half-a-dozen romancing biographers must needs be cleared away before we can even begin to see daylight. Matter which had been for two centuries accepted on seemingly the soundest authority is proven false; her family name itself was, until my recent discovery, wrongly given; the very question of her portrait has its own vexed (and until now unrecognized) dilemmas. In fine there seems no point connected with our first professional authoress which did not call for the nicest investigation and the most incontrovertible proof before it could be accepted without suspicion or reserve. The various collections of her plays and novels which appeared in the first half of the eighteenth century give us nothing; nay, they rather cumber our path with the trash of discredited Memoirs. Pearson's reprint (1871) is entirely valueless: there is no attempt, however meagre, at editing, no effort to elucidate a single allusion; moreover, several of the NovelsÑ and the Poems in their entiretyÑ are lacking. I am happy to give (Vol. V) one of the Novels, and that not the least important, The History of the Nun, for the first time in any collected edition. Poems, in addition to those which appeared in Mrs. Behn's lifetime, and were never reprinted after, have been gathered with great care from many sources (of which some were almost forgotten). It is hoped that this new issue of Mrs. Behn may prove adequate. Any difficulties in the editing have been more than amply compensated for by the interest shown by many friends. Foremost, my best thanks are due to Mr. Bullen, whose life-long experience of the minuti¾ of editing our best dramatic literature, has been ungrudgingly at my service throughout, to the no small advantage of myself and my work. Mr. Edmund Gosse, C.B., has shown the liveliest interest in the book from its inception, and I owe him most grateful recognition for his kindly encouragement and aid. Nay, more, he did not spare to lend me treasured items from his library so rich in first, and boasting unique, editions of Mrs. Behn. Mr. G. Thorn Drury, K.C., never wearied of answering my enquiries, and in discussion solved many a knotty point. To him I am obliged for the transcript of Mrs. Behn's letter to Waller's daughter-in-law, and also the Satire on Dryden. He even gave of his valuable time to read through the Memoir and from the superabundance of his knowledge made suggestions of the first importance. The unsurpassed library of Mr. T. J. Wise, the well-known bibliographer, was freely at my disposal. In other cases where I have received any assistance in clearing a difficulty I have made my acknowledgement in the note itself.
This book presents a collection of the poetry of the 17th-century writer Aphra Behn. It examines the relationships between the sexes, seen from the woman's point of view. The book also includes some of Behn's translations, occasional pieces, satires, and songs.
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Welcome to the Essential Novelists book series, were we present to you the best works of remarkable authors. For this book, the literary critic August Nemo has chosen the two most important and meaningful novels of Aphra Behn which are Oroonoko and Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister. Aphra Behn is remembered in Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own: "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn which is, most scandalously but rather appropriately, in Westminster Abbey, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds." Novels selected for this book: - Oroonoko. - Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister.This is one of many books in the series Essential Novelists. If you liked this book, look for the other titles in the series, we are sure you will like some of the authors.
Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.
Increasingly Aphra Behn—the first woman professional writer—is also regarded as one of the most important writers of the 17th century. The Rover, her most famous and most accomplished play, is in many ways firmly in the tradition of Restoration drama; Willmore, the title character, is a rake and a libertine, and the comedy feeds on sexual innuendo, intrigue and wit. But the laughter that the play insights has a biting edge to it and the sexual intrigue an unsettling depth. As Anne Russell points out in her introduction to this edition, there are three options for women in the society represented in The Rover: marriage, the convent, or prostitution. In this marriage economy the witty and pragmatic virgin Hellena learns how to survive, while the prostitute Angellica Bianca can retain her autonomy only so long as she remains free from romantic love. It seems that in this world women can only be free by the anonymity of disguise—yet the mask is also the mark of the prostitute. And, paradoxically, disguise is the device that in many ways drives the plot towards marriage. Enormously popular through the eighteenth century, The Rover is now once again widely performed. Filled with the play of ideas, it is one of the most amusing, entertaining—and unsettling—of comedies.
Aphra Behn (1640-1689) is historically recognized as the first woman to make a living through writing; her plays, novels, poems and pamphlets have met with fresh notoriety since the 20th Century. Her work was particularly significant to a group of contemporary writers known as The Female Wits, as well as to later feminist writers like Virginia Woolf. Stories of comedy and intrigue, complete with masks, mistaken identities, visual deceptions, and complicated love triangles which reflect Behn's remarkable life experiences: her conservative upbringing, her political support of the Tories, her recruitment as a political spy for Charles II, and later speculation of her bisexuality. Behn once wrote that she had led a "life dedicated to pleasure and poetry." This first volume of Behn's collected works includes a Preface, a Memoir and Portraits of Mrs. Behn, her best-known play, "The Rover," "The Dutch Lover," "The Roundheads," and critical and explanatory notes for the reader.
The first English woman to earn her living by her writing, the Restoration author Aphra Behn broke cultural barriers, serving as a literary role model for later generations of women authors. This comprehensive eBook presents Behn’s complete works, with numerous illustrations, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Behn’s life and works * Concise introductions to the novels and other texts * All 16 plays, with individual contents tables * Includes Behn’s pioneering novels * Images of how the books were first published, giving your eReader a taste of the Restoration texts * Excellent formatting of the texts * Includes Behn’s poetry - spend hours exploring the author’s diverse works * Features two biographies - discover Behn’s literary life * Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles CONTENTS: The Plays THE FORC’D MARRIAGE THE AMOROUS PRINCE THE DUTCH LOVER ABDELAZER THE TOWN FOP THE ROVER, PART 1 AND PART 2 SIR PATIENT FANCY THE FEIGNED COURTESANS THE YOUNG KING THE FALSE COUNT THE ROUNDHEADS THE CITY HEIRESS THE LUCKY CHANCE THE WIDOW RANTER THE YOUNGER BROTHER THE EMPEROR OF THE MOON The Fiction THE FAIR JILT AGNES DE CASTRO LOVE-LETTERS BETWEEN A NOBLEMAN AND HIS SISTER OROONOKO MISCELLANEOUS FICTIONAL WORKS The Poetry THE POETRY OF APHRA BEHN The Biographies MEMOIR OF MRS. BEHN by Montague Summers AFRA BEHN by Edmund Gosse Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles or to purchase this eBook as a Parts Edition of individual eBooks
Aphra Behn (1640-1689) was a popular poet, author of the influential novel "Oroonoko" and one of the most successful dramatists of the Restoration theatre. This book contains a selection of her poetry.
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