Behn, Aphra

Entry updated 18 March 2024. Tagged: Author, Theatre.

(1640-1689) UK playwright, spy (under the name Astrea), translator, poet and author now recognized as probably the first Englishwoman to earn her living entirely by writing. Though she obscured her childhood thoroughly, it is now thought that she was probably born Eaffrey Johnson; in 1663 she was in the British colony of Surinam with members of her family, where she first became involved in political intrigues. She married on her return to England in 1664. Little is known of her husband, who was a merchant, probably of Dutch origin, possibly named Johann Behn, and who died within two years of their marriage. In 1666 Behn was employed by Charles II as a spy in Antwerp during the Dutch War. After a stint in debtor's prison she produced her first play, The Forc'd Marriage, in 1670; it was followed by at least eighteen others, which typically satirized the excesses of Restoration society though she remained a passionate advocate of the Stuart cause.

Her play The Emperor of the Moon: A Farce (1687) is a Commedia Dell'Arte farce taken fairly directly from Arlequin Empereur dans la Lune (performed Paris 1684) by Nolant de Fatouville (? -1715) [for Commedia Dell'Arte see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below]: a scholar is deceived by his daughter and her lover into believing they are in touch with the Emperor of the Moon. Her novella, Oroonoko, Or The Royal Slave: A True History (1688 chap), directly inspired by her period in Surinam, tells of an African king and his lover who are enslaved, lead a revolt and are cruelly killed. It has clear links with much of the Utopian writing of the time, notably in its depiction of African society before enslavement and in the aspirations of Oroonoko, and is remarkable as one of the earliest works to protest against the slave trade. In the mug's game of attempting to identify the first "proper" English novel, it precedes anything by Daniel Defoe; but this is a game dependent on contentious definitions, and works of prose fiction like Margaret Cavendish's The Blazing World (1666) are part of a long parade of tales (see Proto SF) with Feminist implications in which Behn is clearly enlisted. Thomas Southerne (1660-1746) adapted Oroonoko (performed 1695 Theatre-Royal, London; 1696) for the stage in a version that became for a while better known that the original, but which underplayed the anti-Slavery element in favour of increased melodrama. She is also of indirect sf interest for her translation of Bernard Le Bovyer de Fontenelle's Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes habités (1686; exp 1687; trans as A Discovery of New Worlds 1688).

Though not immune from patriarchal derision occasioned by her sex, Behn personally suffered relatively little from the fact she was a woman; but the literary establishment in later centuries – particularly the nineteenth – found her sex, her candour and her professional career intolerable to contemplate, and she was effectively excised from the record. Over the past century, however, she has been increasingly recognized as a central Restoration figure. [PKi/JC]

Aphra Behn

born Harbledown, near Canterbury, Kent: 14 December 1640

died London: 16 April 1689

works

The Emperor of the Moon: A Farce: As it is Acted by their Majesties Servants, at The Queens Theatre (London: Printed by Ralph Holt for Joseph Knight and Francis Saunders, 1687) [play: chap: Elizabeth Holt (? -?1707) may have already taken over the firm from her dying husband: binding unknown/]
- Aphra Behn's "Emperor of the Moon" and its French Source "Arlequin, Empereur Dans la Lune" (no place given: Modern Humanities Research Association, 2019) [omni of the two named plays: edited and translated by Judy A Hayden and Daniel J Worden: in the publisher's MHRA Critical Texts series: pb/]
Oroonoko, Or The Royal Slave: A True History (London: Printed for William Canning, 1688) [chap: pb/]
- Three Histories. Viz: I: Oroonoko: Or, the Royal Slave: II: The Fair Jilt: Or, Tarquin and Miranda: III: Agnes de Castro: Or, the Force of Generous Love (London: Printed for William Canning, 1688) [omni including the above plus other, nonfantastic tales: binding unknown/]
- Oroonoko: A Tragedy as it is Enacted at the Theatre-Royal (London: H Playford et al, 1696) by Thomas Southerne [play: adaptation of the above: first performed 1695 Theatre-Royal, London: binding unknown/]
Oroonoko and Other Stories (Cologne, Germany: Könemann, 1999) [coll: hb/from William Blake]

collected works (selected)

The Works of Aphra Behn (London: William Heinemann, 1915) [published in five volumes: edited by Montague Summers: hb/]
The Works of Aphra Behn (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1992-1996) [complete works: published in seven volumes: edited by Janet Todd: hb/]
The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Aphra Behn: Volume IV: Plays, 1683-1696 (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 2021) [first of projected multi-volume annotated edition: edited by Rachel Adcock et al: hb/]

works as translator (selected)

Bernard Le Bovyer de Fontenelle. Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes habités ["Discourses on the Plurality of Inhabited Worlds"] (Paris: C Blageart, 1686)
- A Discovery of New Worlds (London: William Canning, 1688) [trans of the above: binding unknown/]

about the author

Vita Sackville-West. Aphra Behn: The Incomparable Astrea (London: Gerald Howe, 1927) [nonfiction: hb/]
Maureen Duffy. The Passionate Shepherdess: Aphra Behn 1640-89 (London: Jonathan Cape, 1977) [nonfiction: hb/from Peter Lely]
Heidi Hunter, editor. Rereading Aphra Behn: History, Theory, and Criticism (Charlottesville, Virginia: University Press of Virginia, 1993) [nonfiction: anth: hb/]
Janet Todd. Aphra Behn Studies (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1996) [nonfiction: coll: hb/]
Derek Hughes and Janet todd. The Cambridge Companion to Aphra Behn (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 2005) [nonfiction: anth: hb/]

links

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