Further Reading
- "Mrs. Behn," Littell's Living Age, No. 631 (28 June 1856): 800-11. (Biographical and critical overview of Behn's career reprinted from The Dublin University Magazine.)
- Boehrer, Bruce Thomas, "Behn's 'Disappointment' and Nashe's 'Choise of Valentines': Pornographic Poetry and the Influence of Anxiety," Essays in Literature XVI, No. 2 (Fall 1989): 172-87. (Concludes that "The Disappointment" "marginalizes the male experience of anxiety and humiliation [resulting from sexual impotence], concentrating upon the ironies whereby manly poetry is made.")
- Cameron, W. J., New Light on Aphra Behn, Auckland, New Zealand: University of Auckland, 1961, 106 p. (An investigation into the facts and fictions surrounding Behn's journey to Surinam in 1663 and her activities as a spy in Flanders in 1666.)
- Duffy, Maureen, "Introduction to Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister," in Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister, by Aphra Behn, pp. v-xvii. New York: Penguin Books, Virago Press, 1987. (Comprehensive introduction to Behn's Love-Letters, where, as Duffy asserts, "We hear the first authorial female voice in English prose.")
- Duffy, Maureen, The Passionate Shepherdess: Aphra Behn, 1640-89, London: Jonathan Cape, 1977, 324 p. (Account of Behn's life based on her works and the scant extant documents relating to or by her. Duffy examines Behn's works for insight into her life.)
- Gardiner, Judith Kegan, "The First English Novel: Aphra Behn's Love Letters, the Canon, and Women's Tastes," Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 8, No. 2 (Fall, 1989): 201-22. (Assesses the role of Behn's Love-Letters in the history of the novel, focusing on "psychological paradigms" both in the work and in its historical context.)
- Gewirtz, Arthur, "The Comic Adaptations of Aphra Behn: Libertine Naturalism in Restoration Comedy," in Restoration Adaptations of Early 17th Century Comedies, pp. 83-110. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1982. (Summarizes most of Behn's notable plays, with a particular emphasis on the "libertine naturalism" of the typical rake in Restoration comedy.)
- Goreau, Angeline, Reconstructing Aphra: A Social Biography of Aphra Behn, New York: The Dial Press, 1980, 339 p. (Portrays Behn as a woman driven by contradictory personality traits: independence and emotional neediness.)
- Greer, Germaine, "Montague Summers and The Works of Aphra Behn," in The Uncollected Verse of Aphra Behn, edited by Germaine Greer, pp. 1-11. Stump Cross, England: Stump Cross Books, 1989. (Chastises Summers for poor scholarship in his six-volume edition of The Works of Aphra Behn, particularly pointing out errors related to Summers' treatment of Behn's poetry.)
- Guffey, George, "Aphra Behn's Oroonoko: Occasion and Accomplishment," in Two English Novelists: Aphra Behn and Anthony Trollope, Papers Read at a Clark Library Seminar, May 11, 1974, pp. 3-37. Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 1975. (Presents a realistic reading of the novel and asserts that in Oroonoko Behn "makes a strong argument for the absolute power of legitimate kings … [and] attempts to gain the sympathy of her reader for James.")
- Kretsch, Donna Raske, "Sisters across the Atlantic: Aphra Behn and Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz," Women's Studies 21, No. 3 (1992): 361-79. (Compares Behn and Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz, a Mexican nun and contemporary of Behn's, finding similar feminist attitudes in their works.)
- Link, Frederick M., "Introduction to The Rover," in The Rover, by Aphra Behn, pp. ix-xvi. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967. (Describes how Behn, in The Rover, created a skillful and witty comedy of intrigue out of the weighty and slowmoving play Thomaso by Thomas Killigrew.)
- Link, Frederick M., Aphra Behn, Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1968, 183 p. (General Overview of Behn's life and career.)
- Mermin, Dorothy, "Women Becoming Poets: Katherine Philips, Aphra Behn, Anne Finch," E.L.H. 57, No. 2 (Summer 1990): 335-55. (Examines and compares the verse of Philips, Behn, and Finch to clarify both the causes of the prevailing silence and the conditions under which it could be broken.)
- Morgan, Fidelis, "Aphra Behn-Astraea," in The Female Wits: Women Playwrights on the London Stage 1660-1720, pp. 12-23. London: Virago Press, 1981. (Surveys Behn's life and theatrical works.)
- O'Donnell, Mary Ann, "A Verse Miscellany of Aphra Behn: Bodleian Library MS Firth c.16," in English Manuscript Studies, 1100-1700, Volume 2, edited by Peter Beal and Jeremy Griffiths, pp. 189-227. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990. (Asserts that Behn authored and transcribed some of the verses in a Bodleian Library manuscript consisting of poems by various authors.)
- O'Donnell, Mary Ann, Aphra Behn: An Annotated Bibliography of Primary and Secondary Sources, New York: Garland Publishing, 1986, 557 p. (Catalogue of Behn's works and critical commentary on her writing; includes an introduction that summarizes her career.)
- Robertson, Eric S., "Katherine Philips—Aphra Behn—The Duchess of Newcastle—Early Minor Writers," in English Poetesses: A Series of Biographies, with Illustrative Extracts, pp. 1-36. London: Cassell & Company, Limited, 1883. (Delivers a harsh assessment of Behn's poetry and plays, dismissing all but two of her poems.)
- Rogal, Samuel J., "Aphra Behn," in Critical Survey of Poetry, English Language Series, edited by Frank N. Magill, pp. 123-31. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Salem Press, 1982. (Overview of Behn's verse.)
- Schofield, Mary Anne, and Macheski, Cecilia, eds., Curtain Calls: British and American Women and the Theater 1660-1820, Athens: Ohio University Press, 1991, 403 p. (Includes essays that explore various aspects of Behn's career as a playwright.)
- Stiebel, Arlene, "Not Since Sappho: The Erotic in Poems of Katherine Philips and Aphra Behn," in Homosexuality in Renaissance and Enlightenment England: Literary Representations in Historical Context, edited by Claude J. Summers, pp. 153-64. New York: The Haworth Press, 1992. (Interprets "The Disappointment" as an account of rape and argues that Behn's verse manipulated literary conventions to allow her to discuss taboo subjects such as lesbianism without alerting the audience to any breach of decorum.)
- Todd, Janet, "'An Honour and Glory to our Sex': Aphra Behn," in The Sign of Angellica: Women, Writing, and Fiction 1660-1800, pp. 69-83. London: Virago, 1989. (Surveys Behn's life and works and designates Love-Letters as her masterpiece.)
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