Other Literary Forms
In addition to her plays, Aphra Behn’s literary legacy includes many noteworthy works of fiction and poetry. The three-part novel entitled Love Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister (1683-1687) is both her earliest and her longest narrative effort. A fictionalized version of a notorious contemporary scandal, this novel was extremely popular at the time, but it is little read today. Of much more interest to present-day readers are the shorter novels such as The Fair Jilt: Or, The History of Prince Tarquin and Miranda (1688) and Oroonoko: Or, The History of the Royal Slave (1688). The latter is undoubtedly Behn’s most enduring literary creation in any genre. Allegedly based on her own experiences in Surinam during the 1660’s, the narrative relates the tragic history of a slave of African origin named Oroonoko and his wife, Imoinda, from the viewpoint of the author herself. As the story unfolds, Behn repeatedly exposes the deceitful and greedy nature of the European settlers and underscores the innate virtue of the novel’s eponymous hero. He is, therefore, one of the earliest fictional manifestations of the archetypical “noble savage.” Because of its implicit condemnation of slavery and colonialism, the novel is highly regarded as a harbinger of the crisis in political and social morality that was to trouble the conscience of Europeans in their dealings with the nonwhite population of the globe over the succeeding centuries.
Behn’s poetry is widely diverse in character. In keeping with the convention of the time, she made it a practice to provide her plays with prologues and epilogues in verse form. She also interspersed many songs within the prose dialogue of her plays. In both instances, the quality of her poetry is usually of a high order. Two of her most successful poems, in fact, appear in Abdelazer. The song that begins with the line “LOVE in fantastick Triumph sat” comes at the opening of act 1, and the one commencing “MAKE haste, Amintas, come away” is to be found near the end of act 2. Both of these songs are frequently anthologized. Likewise commendable are two short narrative poems entitled “The Disappointment” and “The Golden Age.” Although most of her occasional poetry consists of overly rhetorical panegyrics to illustrious personages, a few of the elegies are moving expressions of private grief. Perhaps the best of these are “To the Memory of George, Duke of Buckingham” and “On the Death of Edmund Waller, Esq.”
Being fluent in French, Behn began making translations from that language as a source of income late in her career. Among the French works that she translated are the maxims of the duke François de La Rochefoucauld and two works of fiction by Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle. More in the nature of an adaptation is her translation of Abbé Paul Tallemant’s Le Voyage de l’isle d’amour (1663), which she published under the title A Voyage to the Island of Love in 1684. Tallemant’s piece of fantasy is, for the most part, a prose narrative interspersed with songs, but Behn chose to render all the prose passages as rhymed couplets. In Lycidus: Or, The Lover in Fashion (1688), including an adaptation of Tallemant’s second voyage to the Island of Love, however, she adheres to the prose and poetry distinctions of the original text. One of the songs in Lycidus , starting with the line “A thousand Martyrs I have made,” has proved itself to be a perennial favorite with the reading public. The fact that Behn knew little Latin and less Greek did not prevent her from “translating” works written in those tongues. With...
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the aid of French and English translations, she managed to turn out excellent versions of Aesop’s fables for an illustrated edition published in 1687. Working chiefly from a prose paraphrase, she also produced a rhymed translation of book 6 (Of Trees) from Abraham Cowley’s poetic treatise entitled Sex libri plantarum (1668). The preceding five books were translated by others, and the complete text of the Six Books of Plants was published shortly before Behn’s death in 1689.
Achievements
Aphra Behn came of age during the period in English history known as the Restoration. The epoch began in 1660 with the Stuart monarchy being restored in the person of Charles II. His Royal Highness was passionately fond of the theater, and one of his first acts was to rescind the laws prohibiting the performance of plays, that had been enacted in 1642 by the Long Parliament under the domination of Oliver Cromwell. Although all forms of drama were thenceforth permitted to flourish, the best plays written in the succeeding era turned out to be comedies. The masterpieces of this genre were created by Sir George Etherege, William Wycherley, and William Congreve, among others. While it would be injudicious to claim that any of Behn’s comedies should be ranked with the best of Etherege, Wycherley, or Congreve, many of her plays have withstood the test of time and are fully deserving of a contemporary readership. The same is true with respect to her novel Oroonoko. The dramatic vitality of Oroonoko and many of her other works of narrative fiction is attested by the fact that several of them have been successfully adapted for the theater by other hands. Using the novel The History of the Nun: Or, The Fair Vow-Breaker (1689) as the source for his plot, Thomas Southerne scored one of his greatest successes as a playwright with the tragedy entitled The Fatal Marriage: Or, The Innocent Adultery (pr. 1694). Two years later, in 1696, he repeated this success with a dramatization of Oroonoko. In the same year, moreover, Catherine Cockburn offered the theatergoing public the opportunity to see a play based on Behn’s novel Agnes de Castro (1688). These adaptations continued to be popular into the eighteenth century.
Literary historians will always accord an honorable place to Behn for being the first Englishwoman to become a professional author and to support herself solely by means of income derived from her writings. Although it must have been a bold decision on her part to defy conventional wisdom regarding the proper mode of existence for a woman of her class, she seems not to have been seriously disadvantaged on account of her gender in pursuing a literary career and may have actually been helped by it. The only apparent adverse effect that she suffered from being a woman stemmed from the generally held belief that women are innately more virtuous than men. As a consequence of this social attitude, there was a propensity on the part of some critics, as well as the public at large, to regard her comedies as being more immoral than those of her male colleagues. This charge has been immortalized in Alexander Pope’s satire The First Epistle to the Second Book of Horace (1737). Here, in a couplet in which he refers to Behn by a pseudonym under which she frequently published her poetry, Pope writes: “The stage how loosely does Astraea tread,/ Who fairly puts all Characters to bed.” Pope’s imputation is unfair, for Behn’s plays are no more licentious, and frequently less so, than others written in that era. These charges, moreover, never proved detrimental to public attendance at performances of her plays. That she was one of the most popular playwrights of her age is a matter of historical record.
Other literary forms
As a truly professional writer, perhaps the first British female to have written for profit, Aphra Behn (bayn) moved easily through the various literary genres and forms. Her plays include The Forced Marriage: Or, The Jealous Bridegroom (pr. 1670); The Amorous Prince: Or, The Curious Husband (pr., pb. 1671); The Dutch Lover (pr., pb. 1673); The Town Fop: Or, Sir Timothy Tawdry (pr. 1676); Abdelazer: Or, the Moor’s Revenge (pr. 1676); The Rover: Or, The Banished Cavaliers (Part I, pr., pb. 1677; Part II, pr., pb. 1681); Sir Patient Fancy (pr., pb. 1678); The Roundheads: Or, The Good Old Cause (pr. 1681); The City Heiress: Or, Sir Timothy Treat-All (pr., pb. 1682); The Lucky Chance: Or, An Alderman’s Bargain (pr. 1686); The Emperor of the Moon (pr., pb. 1687); The Widow Ranter: Or, The History of Bacon of Virginia (pr. 1689); and The Younger Brother: Or, The Amorous Jilt (pr., pb. 1696).
Although Behn enjoyed only mild success as a poet, her verse was probably no better or worse than that of a large number of second-rank versifiers of the Restoration. Behn’s best poetry can be found in the song “Love in fantastic triumph sate” (1677), from her tragedy Abdelazer, and in a metrical “Paraphrase on Oenone to Paris” for Jacob Tonson’s volume of Ovid’s Epistles (1680). The remainder of her verse includes a long, amorous allegory, A Voyage to the Isle of Love (1684); an adaptation of Bernard de Fontenelle’s epic that she titled A Discovery of New Worlds (1688); and two occasional pieces, “A Pindarick on the Death of Charles II” (1685) and “A Congratulatory Poem to Her Most Sacred Majesty” (1688).
Achievements
Aphra Behn’s achievement as a novelist should be measured principally in terms of the modest gains made by the novel form in England during the seventeenth century. Prior to Oroonoko, the English novel lingered in the shadows of the theater. The small reading public contented itself with works such as John Lyly’s Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit (1578), Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia (1590), Thomas Lodge’s Rosalynde: Or, Euphues Golden Legacy (1590), Thomas Nashe’s The Unfortunate Traveller: Or, The Life of Jack Wilton (1594), and Thomas Deloney’s The Pleasant History of John Winchcomb in His Younger Days Called Jack of Newbery (1597; better known as Jack of Newbery)—all long, episodic stories, sprinkled with overly dramatic characterization and improbable plot structures. In Oroonoko, however, Behn advanced the novel to the point where her more skilled successors in the eighteenth century could begin to shape it into an independent, recognizable form.
Behn possessed the natural gifts of the storyteller, and hernarrative art can easily stand beside that of her male contemporaries. A frankly commercial writer, she simply had no time, in pursuit of pleasure and the pen, to find a place in her narratives for intellectual substance. Nevertheless, she told a story as few others could, and the force of her own personality contributed both reality and a sense of immediacy to the still inchoate form of seventeenth century British fiction.
Other literary forms
Although Aphra Behn (bayn) wrote more than a dozen separate pieces of fiction that critics of her day called novels, only a portion may legitimately be labeled as such. Principal among these is her most noted work of fiction, Oroonoko: Or, The Royal Slave, a True History (1688); others worthy of consideration are Agnes de Castro (1688), The Fair Jilt: Or, The History of Prince Tarquin and Miranda (1688), The History of the Nun: Or, The Fair Vow-Breaker (1689), and The Nun: Or, The Perjured Beauty (1697). During her lifetime, Behn established her literary reputation by writing for the London stage, creating more than fifteen plays.
Achievements
Critics may defend Aphra Behn’s talent for drama and prose fiction as worthy of recognition beside that of her male contemporaries. As a writer of verse, however, she cannot claim a place among the poets of the first rank. This does not mean that her poetry has no value for the critic, the literary historian, or the general reader; on the contrary, her occasional verse is no worse than the political pieces of her colleagues (with the exception of John Dryden), while the songs and poems from her plays reflect her ability to manipulate verse as reinforcement for dramatic theme and setting.
In the nineteenth century, such poet-essayists as Leigh Hunt, Edmund Gosse, and Algernon Charles Swinburne recoiled initially from what they saw in Behn’s occasional verse as indelicate and indecent language. They recovered sufficiently to find some merit in her songs. Hunt bemoaned her association with the rakes of the age, yet praised the songs as “natural and cordial, written in a masculine style, yet womanly withal.” Gosse dubbed her “the George Sand of the Restoration”—an obvious reference that had nothing whatsoever to do with her literary abilities—although “she possessed an indisputable touch of lyric genius.” Swinburne looked hard at a single poem, “Love in fantastic triumph sate,” and concluded that “the virtuous Aphra towers above her sex in the passionate grace and splendid elegance of that melodious and magnificent song. . . .” The most attractive quality of her lyrical pieces is their spontaneity, demonstrating to the reader (or the theatergoer) that the best poetry need not be anchored to learning but can succeed because the lines are memorable, singable, and direct.
In her public verse, Behn had to compete with a large number of poets who tended to be more skilled mechanics and versifiers than she, and all of whom sought the same limited patronage and political favors as she. She found herself at a disadvantage because of her gender, which meant, simply, that her occasional verse did not always reach the widest possible audience. For example, such pieces as “A Pindarick on the Death of Charles II” (1685) and “A Congratulatory Poem to Her Most Sacred Majesty” (1688) may appear stiff and lacking in sincerity, but certainly no more so than the verses on the same subjects written by her contemporaries.
Behn’s elegy on the death of Edmund Waller and her other contributions to a volume in memory of the departed poet in 1688 do, however, reflect a deep feeling of sorrow because of the occasion; these poems serve as a transition to her private verse, representing perhaps the highest level of Behn’s poetic achievement. In “The Disappointment,” for example, she reveals herself as a woman whose real desires have been obscured by frivolity and professionalism and who realizes that her laborious life is drawing to a close. The importance of such poems is that they provide the deepest insight into Behn; they draw a picture of the poet far more honestly and realistically than do the rumors, allusions, and innuendos set forth in countless biographical sketches and critical commentaries.
Discussion Topics
How do Aphra Behn’s dramas differ from representative Restoration plays?
What traits of Behn’s fiction anticipate eighteenth century English novels?
What does Behn’s experience as a spy contribute to her writings?
It cannot be established whether Behn visited South America. How convincing of such a visit are the details in Oroonoko?
Support the assertion that Behn was an extraordinary woman.
What significance do you see in Behn’s frequent habit of giving two titles to her works?
Bibliography
Altaba-Artal, Dolors. Aphra Behn’s English Feminism: Wit and Satire. Cranbury, N.J.: Associated University Presses, 1999. Examines Behn’s writings from the perspective of feminism. Includes bibliography and index.
Anderson, Emily Hodgson. “Novelty in Novels: A Look at What’s New in Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko.” Studies in the Novel 39, no. 1 (Spring, 2007): 1-16. Explores the aspects of novelty in novels through a focused reading of Oroonoko. Argues that the novel demonstrates a concern for didacticism and its own newness that was characteristic of many eighteenth century novels.
Carnell, Rachel K. “Subverting Tragic Conventions: Aphra Behn’s Turn to the Novel.” Studies in the Novel 31, no. 2 (Summer, 1998): 133-151. Discusses Behn’s experiments with the novel form and the strategies she employed to counter the blatantly misogynistic resistance to her participation in political exchange.
Duffy, Maureen. The Passionate Shepherdess: Aphra Behn, 1640-1689. London: Jonathan Cape, 1977. This reliable, scholarly examination of Behn and the Restoration period in which she wrote informs readers about the social and political life that governed Behn’s style. Treats Behn as a serious artist, not as the superficial, almost unknown figure that earlier biographers painted. Generously illustrated with portraits, maps, and drawings of theaters.
Goreau, Angeline. Reconstructing Aphra: A Social Biography of Aphra Behn. New York: Dial Press, 1980. Goreau attempts to recover a heroic life in the story of the first woman to earn her living by her pen. The contradictions of a woman trying to be both independent and competitive in the theater world and at the same time trying to live the feminine roles of lover and wife occupy Goreau’s attention throughout the study. Presents the political background and the social scene of fashionable London in the 1660’s and 1670’s. Includes sixteen pages of portraits and theater scenes.
Hughes, Derek. The Theatre of Aphra Behn. New York: Palgrave, 2001. An authoritative study of Behn’s dramatic oeuvre by a prominent scholar of Restoration drama. While concentrating on the playwright and her work, this study assumes the reader has a good understanding of the era and theater in Behn’s day.
Hughes, Derek and Janet Todd, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Aphra Behn. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Replete with tools for further research, this is an excellent aid to any study of Behn’s life and work. Includes two essays discussing various aspects of her novel Oroonoko.
Hutner, Heidi. Colonial Women: Race and Culture in Stuart Drama. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. Contains history and criticism of Stuart drama, including a section on Behn’s The Widow Ranter. Bibliography and index.
Kreis-Schinck, Annette. Women, Writing, and the Theater in the Early Modern Period: The Plays of Aphra Behn and Suzanne Centlivre. Cranbury, N. J.: Associated University Presses, 2001. An analysis of the lives and writing of Behn and Mrs. Susannah Centlivre. Bibliography and index.
Link, Frederick M. Aphra Behn. New York: Twayne, 1968. Provides a comprehensive survey of Behn’s novels, plays, poems, and translations, with the plays receiving the greatest attention. Includes a chronology, notes, bibliography, and index.
O’Donnell, Mary Ann. Aphra Behn: An Annotated Bibliography of Primary and Secondary Sources. New York: Garland, 1986. After a detailed description of more than one hundred primary works, O’Donnell annotates 661 books, articles, essays, and dissertations written about Behn after 1666. These works are listed chronologically. Indexed.
Rivero, Albert J. “Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko and the ’Blank Spaces’ of Colonial Fictions.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 39, no. 3 (Summer, 1999): 443-462. Discusses Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (which first appeared as a serial in 1899 and was published in book form in 1902) and Behn’s Oroonoko. Both works feature characters that begin as civilized and go spectacularly native, and both attempt to preserve hierarchies of race and class while representing the impossibility of doing so in chaotic colonial settings.
Sackville-West, Victoria. Aphra Behn: The Incomparable Astrea. New York: Russell & Russell, 1927. Brief study of Behn’s life relies heavily on biographical passages in Behn’s novels. Whereas Sackville-West finds her subject engaging as a woman, she does not wholeheartedly admire Behn’s writing. An appendix lists Behn’s works and production or publication dates.
Spencer, Jane. Aphra Behn’s Afterlife. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Examination of Behn’s works, including Oroonoko, emphasizes Behn’s influence. Features a discussion of the author’s reputation as a novelist. Includes bibliography and index.
Todd, Janet. The Secret Life of Aphra Behn. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1996. Speculative biographical work includes an introduction that summarizes efforts to study Behn’s work and life, her place in literature, her ability to write in so many different genres, and the biographer’s efforts to overcome the paucity of facts available. Features bibliographies of works written before and after 1800.
Todd, Janet, ed. Aphra Behn Studies. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Collection of essays is divided into four parts: Part 1 concentrates on Behn’s plays, part 2 on her poetry, part 3 on her fiction, and part 4 on her biography. Includes an introduction outlining Behn’s career.
Wiseman, Susan. Aphra Behn. 2d ed. Tavistock, England: Northcote House, 2007. Biography examines Behn’s life and work. Discusses her works in all genres, including her novels Oroonoko and Love Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister.
Woodcock, George. Aphra Behn: The English Sappho. 1948. Reprint. Montreal: Black Rose, 1989. First published in 1948 in England, this book is now reprinted in its entirety with a short introduction by the author. Woodcock reflects that since writing the original version, he has come to see Behn less as a revolutionary and more as a participant in her times. Reviews the history of the debate about her childhood in Central America, her life as a spy, her prison experience, her career as a playwright, and her years of success.