Book description
Aphra Behn, the poet, playwright, novelist and political satirist was
the first truly professional woman writer in English. This selection,
edited and introduced by Professor Janet Todd, demonstrates the full
sophistication and vitality of Aphra Behn's genius. It contains the
plays The Rover and The Widow, Ranter (the first English play to be set
in the American colonies) together with Love Letters to a Gentleman, a
choice of poems and two short novels - The Fair Jilt and Oroonoko -
which are among the most innovative prose writings of the seventeenth
century.
Little is known of Aphra Behn's early life. She was probably born
around 1640 in Kent and in the early 1660s claims to have visited the
British colony of Surinam. She turned to literature for a living,
producing numerous short stories, 19 stage plays and political
propaganda for the Tories.
Janet Todd is Francis Hutcheson Professor of English Literature,
University of Glasgow and Aphra Behn's biographer.
