1680s Novels (Study Guide) - 1682 Novels, 1684 Novels, 1686 Novels, 1688 Novels, Oroonoko, Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister (Paperback)

This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: 1682 Novels, 1684 Novels, 1686 Novels, 1688 Novels, Oroonoko, Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister, the Holy War, the Life of an Amorous Woman. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Oroonoko is a short work of prose fiction by Aphra Behn (16401689), published in 1688, concerning the love of its hero, an enslaved African in Surinam in the 1660s, and the author's own experiences in the new South American colony. Behn worked for Charles II as a spy during the outset of the Second Dutch War, ending up destitute when she returned to England, and even spending time in a debtors' prison, because Charles failed to pay her properly, or at all. She turned her hand to writing in order to survive, with remarkable success. She wrote poetry that sold well, and had a number of plays staged, which established her fame in her own lifetime. In the 1670s, only John Dryden had plays staged more often than Behn. She began to write extended narrative prose toward the end of her career. Published less than a year before she died, Oroonoko is one of the earliest English novels. Interest in it has increased since the 1970s, critics arguing that Behn is the foremother of British women writers, and that Oroonoko is a crucial text in the history of the novel. Oroonoko is a relatively short novel whose full title is Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave. The novel concerns the grandson of an African king, Prince Oroonoko, who falls in love with Imoinda, the daughter of that king's top general. Portrait of Aphra Behn, aged approximately 30, by Mary BealeThe king, too, falls in love with Imoinda. He gives Imoinda the sacred veil, thus commanding her to become one of his wives, even though she was already married to Oroonoko. After unwillingly spendi...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=100346