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Look Inside The Cambridge Companion to Aphra Behn

The Cambridge Companion to Aphra Behn

Part of Cambridge Companions to Literature

Editors:
Derek Hughes, University of Aberdeen
Janet Todd, University of Glasgow

Mary Ann O'Donnell, Susan Staves, Derek Hughes, Melinda S. Zook, Susan J. Owen, Janet Todd, Robert Markley, Helen M. Burke, Ros Ballaster, Laura J. Rosenthal, Joanna Lipking, Jacqueline Pearson, Jessica Munns, Line Cottegnies

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Date Published: November 2004
availability: Available
format: Paperback
isbn: 9780521527200

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About the Authors

Traditionally known as the first professional woman writer in English, Aphra Behn has now emerged as one of the major figures of the Restoration. She provided more plays for the stage than any other author and greatly influenced the development of the novel with her ground-breaking fiction, especially Love-Letters between a Nobleman and his Sister and Oroonoko, the first English novel set in America. Behn's work straddles the genres: beside drama and fiction, she also excelled in poetry and she made several important translations from French libertine and scientific works. This Companion discusses and introduces her writings in all these fields and provides the critical tools with which to judge their aesthetic and historical importance. It also includes a full bibliography, a detailed chronology and a description of the known facts of her life. The Companion will be an essential tool for the study of this increasingly important writer and thinker.
- The most comprehensive companion for students and scholars on the first British woman to earn her living as a creative writer
- Covers all of Behn's work in drama, poetry, fiction and prose, including chapters on Oroonoko and The Rover
- Sets Behn in her historical context with a chapter on the 17th century slave trade and the colonial world
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Reviews & endorsements
'Taken as a group, the essays here assembled make for one of the best volumes to emanate from the excellent Cambridge Companions to Literature series.' Choice
'… illuminating … These essays present Aphra Benn's artistic choices as determined by genre, political contingency and an acute sensitivity to theatrical success, as much as by proto-feminism.' The Times Literary Supplement
'In short, the Companion offers in a brilliantly condensed form the recent debate on Aphra Behn with valuable introductions to general aspects of her work, e.g. on pastoral or social comedy, and is this indispensable to her students when reading Aphra Behn – in all her diversity and ambiguity.' Cornelia Wilde, Buchhesprechungen
'Effective collaboration, commitment to advancing the knowledge of readers at varying levels, and research that is informed and up to date, both digitally and critically, have ensured that this is an informative and inspirational volume which certainly succeeds in its aim to make these important Behn plays accessible for students, scholars, acting companies, and the general reader. No doubt this richly annotated collection will facilitate a wealth of further inspiring discussion on Behn in the future.' Amelia Mills, Women's Writing
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Product details
- Date Published: November 2004
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521527200
- length: 276 pages
- dimensions: 228 x 155 x 17 mm
- weight: 0.43kg
- contains: 1 b/w illus.
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
Chronology Mary Ann O'Donnell
1. Aphra Behn: the documentary record Mary Ann O'Donnell
2. Behn, women and society Susan Staves
3. Aphra Behn and the Restoration theatre Derek Hughes
4. The political poetry of Aphra Behn Melinda S. Zook
5. Behn's dramatic response to Restoration politics Susan J. Owen
6. Tragedy and tragicomedy Janet Todd and Derek Hughes
7. Behn and the unstable traditions of social comedy Robert Markley
8. The Cavalier myth in The Rover Helen M. Burke
9. 'The Story of the heart': Love-Letters between a Nobleman and his Sister Ros Ballaster
10. Oroonoko: reception, ideology, and narrative strategy Laura J. Rosenthal
11. 'Others', slaves and colonists in Oroonoko Joanna Lipking
12. The short fiction (excluding Oroonoko) Jacqueline Pearson
13. Pastoral and Lyric: Astrea in Arcadia Jessica Munns
14. Aphra Behn's French translations Line Cottegnies
Further reading.
Look Inside
Editors
Derek Hughes, University of Aberdeen
Derek Hughes is Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick.
Janet Todd, University of Glasgow
Janet Todd is Francis Hutcheson Professor of English Literature at the University of Glasgow.
Contributors
Mary Ann O'Donnell, Susan Staves, Derek Hughes, Melinda S. Zook, Susan J. Owen, Janet Todd, Robert Markley, Helen M. Burke, Ros Ballaster, Laura J. Rosenthal, Joanna Lipking, Jacqueline Pearson, Jessica Munns, Line Cottegnies