Ros Ballaster
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184775
- eISBN:
- 9780191674341
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184775.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
Historicist and feminist accounts of the ‘rise of the novel’ have neglected the phenomenon of the professional woman writer in England prior to the advent of the sentimental novel in the 1740s. This ...
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Historicist and feminist accounts of the ‘rise of the novel’ have neglected the phenomenon of the professional woman writer in England prior to the advent of the sentimental novel in the 1740s. This book explores the means by which the three leading Tory women novelists of the late 17th and early 18th centuries challenged and reworked both contemporary gender ideologies and generic convention. The seduction plot provided Aphra Behn, Delarivier Manley, and Eliza Haywood with a vehicle for dramatizing their own appropriation of the ‘masculine’ power of fiction-making. Seduction is employed in these fictions as a metaphor for both novelistic production (the seduction of the reader by the writer) and party political machination (the seduction of the public by the politician). The book also explores the debts early prose fiction owed to French 17th-century models of fiction-writing and argues that Behn, Manley, and Haywood succeed in producing a distinctively ‘English’ and female ‘form’ for the amatory novel.Less
Historicist and feminist accounts of the ‘rise of the novel’ have neglected the phenomenon of the professional woman writer in England prior to the advent of the sentimental novel in the 1740s. This book explores the means by which the three leading Tory women novelists of the late 17th and early 18th centuries challenged and reworked both contemporary gender ideologies and generic convention. The seduction plot provided Aphra Behn, Delarivier Manley, and Eliza Haywood with a vehicle for dramatizing their own appropriation of the ‘masculine’ power of fiction-making. Seduction is employed in these fictions as a metaphor for both novelistic production (the seduction of the reader by the writer) and party political machination (the seduction of the public by the politician). The book also explores the debts early prose fiction owed to French 17th-century models of fiction-writing and argues that Behn, Manley, and Haywood succeed in producing a distinctively ‘English’ and female ‘form’ for the amatory novel.
Ros Ballaster
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184775
- eISBN:
- 9780191674341
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184775.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to give an account of the conditions that enabled some women writers in the late 17th and early 18th century to ‘profit’, both ...
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This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to give an account of the conditions that enabled some women writers in the late 17th and early 18th century to ‘profit’, both materially and ideologically, from the narcissistic strategies that Aphra Behn's heroine learns through the course of the novel. An overview of the subsequent chapters is presented.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to give an account of the conditions that enabled some women writers in the late 17th and early 18th century to ‘profit’, both materially and ideologically, from the narcissistic strategies that Aphra Behn's heroine learns through the course of the novel. An overview of the subsequent chapters is presented.
Gilli Bush-Bailey
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719072505
- eISBN:
- 9781781701935
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719072505.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama
This book challenges the traditional boundaries that have separated the histories of the first actresses and the early female playwright, bringing the approaches of new histories and historiography ...
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This book challenges the traditional boundaries that have separated the histories of the first actresses and the early female playwright, bringing the approaches of new histories and historiography to bear on old stories to make alternative connections between women working in the business of theatre. Drawing from feminist cultural materialist theories and historiographies, it analyses the collaboration between the actresses Elizabeth Barry and Anne Bracegirdle and women playwrights such as Aphra Behn and Mary Pix, tracing a line of influence from the time of the first theatres royal to the rebellion that resulted in the creation of a players' co-operative. This is a story about public and private identity fuelling profit at the box office and gossip on the streets, investigating how women's on- and off-stage personae fed each other in the emerging commercial world of the business of theatre. Employing the narrative strategy of the micro-history, it offers a fresh approach to the history of women, seeing their neglected plays in the context of performance. Competition with the patent house resulted in a dirty tricks campaign that saw William Congreve supporting the female rebels or, as this book suggests, being supported by them. By combining detailed analysis of selected plays within the broader context of a playhouse managed by its leading actresses, the book challenges the received historical and literary canons, including a radical solution to the mysterious identity of the anonymous playwright ‘Ariadne’. It is a story of female collaboration and influence.Less
This book challenges the traditional boundaries that have separated the histories of the first actresses and the early female playwright, bringing the approaches of new histories and historiography to bear on old stories to make alternative connections between women working in the business of theatre. Drawing from feminist cultural materialist theories and historiographies, it analyses the collaboration between the actresses Elizabeth Barry and Anne Bracegirdle and women playwrights such as Aphra Behn and Mary Pix, tracing a line of influence from the time of the first theatres royal to the rebellion that resulted in the creation of a players' co-operative. This is a story about public and private identity fuelling profit at the box office and gossip on the streets, investigating how women's on- and off-stage personae fed each other in the emerging commercial world of the business of theatre. Employing the narrative strategy of the micro-history, it offers a fresh approach to the history of women, seeing their neglected plays in the context of performance. Competition with the patent house resulted in a dirty tricks campaign that saw William Congreve supporting the female rebels or, as this book suggests, being supported by them. By combining detailed analysis of selected plays within the broader context of a playhouse managed by its leading actresses, the book challenges the received historical and literary canons, including a radical solution to the mysterious identity of the anonymous playwright ‘Ariadne’. It is a story of female collaboration and influence.
Susan J. Owen
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198183877
- eISBN:
- 9780191674129
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198183877.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
Restoration Theatre and Crisis is a seminal study of the drama of the Restoration, in particular that of the Popish Plot and Exclusion Crisis. This was a time of unprecedented political ...
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Restoration Theatre and Crisis is a seminal study of the drama of the Restoration, in particular that of the Popish Plot and Exclusion Crisis. This was a time of unprecedented political partisanship in the theatre. This book considers all the known plays of this period, including works by Dryden and Behn, in their historical context. It examines the complex ways in which the drama both reflected and intervened in the political process, at a time when the crisis fractured an already fragile post-interregnum consensus, and modern party political methods first began to develop.Less
Restoration Theatre and Crisis is a seminal study of the drama of the Restoration, in particular that of the Popish Plot and Exclusion Crisis. This was a time of unprecedented political partisanship in the theatre. This book considers all the known plays of this period, including works by Dryden and Behn, in their historical context. It examines the complex ways in which the drama both reflected and intervened in the political process, at a time when the crisis fractured an already fragile post-interregnum consensus, and modern party political methods first began to develop.
Carol Barash
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198186861
- eISBN:
- 9780191674587
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198186861.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
This book is the first study to reconstruct the political origins of English women's poetry between the execution of Charles I and the death of Queen Anne. The book shows that, between Katherine ...
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This book is the first study to reconstruct the political origins of English women's poetry between the execution of Charles I and the death of Queen Anne. The book shows that, between Katherine Philips (1632–1664) and Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea (1661–1720), English women's poetic tradition developed as part of the larger political shifts in these years and particularly in women's fascination with the figure of the female monarch. Writers discussed in the book include Aphra Behn, Katherine Philips, Anne Killigrew, Jane Barker, and Anne Finch.Less
This book is the first study to reconstruct the political origins of English women's poetry between the execution of Charles I and the death of Queen Anne. The book shows that, between Katherine Philips (1632–1664) and Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea (1661–1720), English women's poetic tradition developed as part of the larger political shifts in these years and particularly in women's fascination with the figure of the female monarch. Writers discussed in the book include Aphra Behn, Katherine Philips, Anne Killigrew, Jane Barker, and Anne Finch.
Paulina Kewes
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184683
- eISBN:
- 9780191674334
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184683.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, Drama
This book studies the cultural and economic status of playwriting in the later 17th and early 18th centuries, and argues that the period was a decisive one in the transition from Renaissance ...
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This book studies the cultural and economic status of playwriting in the later 17th and early 18th centuries, and argues that the period was a decisive one in the transition from Renaissance conceptions of authorship towards modern ones. In Shakespeare's time, creative originality and independence of voice had been little prized. Playwrights had appropriated materials from earlier writings with little censure, while the practice of collaboration among dramatists had been taken for granted. The book demonstrates that, in the decades following the Restoration, those attitudes were challenged by new conceptions of dramatic art, which required authors to be the sole begetters of their works. This book explores a series of developments in the theatrical marketplace that increased both the rewards and the prestige of the dramatist, and shows the Restoration period to have been one of serious and animated debate about the methods of playwriting. Against that background, the book offers a fresh account of the formation of the canon of English drama, revealing how the moderns — Dryden, Otway, Lee, Behn, and then their successors Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar — acquired an esteem equal, even superior, to their illustrious predecessors Shakespeare, Jonson, and Fletcher.Less
This book studies the cultural and economic status of playwriting in the later 17th and early 18th centuries, and argues that the period was a decisive one in the transition from Renaissance conceptions of authorship towards modern ones. In Shakespeare's time, creative originality and independence of voice had been little prized. Playwrights had appropriated materials from earlier writings with little censure, while the practice of collaboration among dramatists had been taken for granted. The book demonstrates that, in the decades following the Restoration, those attitudes were challenged by new conceptions of dramatic art, which required authors to be the sole begetters of their works. This book explores a series of developments in the theatrical marketplace that increased both the rewards and the prestige of the dramatist, and shows the Restoration period to have been one of serious and animated debate about the methods of playwriting. Against that background, the book offers a fresh account of the formation of the canon of English drama, revealing how the moderns — Dryden, Otway, Lee, Behn, and then their successors Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar — acquired an esteem equal, even superior, to their illustrious predecessors Shakespeare, Jonson, and Fletcher.
Jane Spencer
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184942
- eISBN:
- 9780191674402
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184942.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 18th-century Literature
Aphra Behn, now becoming recognized as a major Restoration figure, is especially significant as an early example of a successful professional woman writer: an important and often troubling role-model ...
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Aphra Behn, now becoming recognized as a major Restoration figure, is especially significant as an early example of a successful professional woman writer: an important and often troubling role-model for later generations of women. This book shows that her influence on 18th-century literature was far-reaching. Because literary history was (and to an extent still is) based on notions of patrilineal succession, it has been difficult to recognize the generative work of women's texts among male writers. This book suggests that Behn had 'sons' as well as ‘daughters’ and argues that we need a feminist revision of the notion of literary influence. Behn's reputation was very different in different genres. The book analyses her reception as a poet, a novelist, and a dramatist, showing how reactions to her became an important part of the creation of the English literary canon.Less
Aphra Behn, now becoming recognized as a major Restoration figure, is especially significant as an early example of a successful professional woman writer: an important and often troubling role-model for later generations of women. This book shows that her influence on 18th-century literature was far-reaching. Because literary history was (and to an extent still is) based on notions of patrilineal succession, it has been difficult to recognize the generative work of women's texts among male writers. This book suggests that Behn had 'sons' as well as ‘daughters’ and argues that we need a feminist revision of the notion of literary influence. Behn's reputation was very different in different genres. The book analyses her reception as a poet, a novelist, and a dramatist, showing how reactions to her became an important part of the creation of the English literary canon.
Carol Barash
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198186861
- eISBN:
- 9780191674587
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198186861.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
This chapter focuses on Aphra Behn. Behn was infamous for her forwardness in seeking publication (and profit) for her writing, for her bawdy plays and verse, and for her playful — and often playfully ...
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This chapter focuses on Aphra Behn. Behn was infamous for her forwardness in seeking publication (and profit) for her writing, for her bawdy plays and verse, and for her playful — and often playfully confrontational — attention to the rules governing heterosexual love. Behn reveals the cultural conflicts at work in the reworking of classical myths in Restoration poetry. She describes translation as both a sexual and a national contest. With heightened attention to the cultural meanings of myth and the increased availability of mythic stories, the ability to read myths in their original languages allowed the poet access to literary and cultural authority.Less
This chapter focuses on Aphra Behn. Behn was infamous for her forwardness in seeking publication (and profit) for her writing, for her bawdy plays and verse, and for her playful — and often playfully confrontational — attention to the rules governing heterosexual love. Behn reveals the cultural conflicts at work in the reworking of classical myths in Restoration poetry. She describes translation as both a sexual and a national contest. With heightened attention to the cultural meanings of myth and the increased availability of mythic stories, the ability to read myths in their original languages allowed the poet access to literary and cultural authority.
Jane Spencer
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184942
- eISBN:
- 9780191674402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184942.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 18th-century Literature
This book approaches the construction of literary authority and the literary canon during the 18th century through a study of the reception of the work of Aphra Behn. As one of the first professional ...
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This book approaches the construction of literary authority and the literary canon during the 18th century through a study of the reception of the work of Aphra Behn. As one of the first professional writers of either sex in England, she participated in the redefinition of the author that attended the new literary market; and as the most prominent woman writer of the Restoration, she had an immense and complex significance for women writers in following generations. The 18th-century construction of Restoration writing in general, and Behn's in particular, as decadent and salacious, had profound effects on the tenor of that influence, and made her legacy to later female writers an uneasy one. Over the hundred years following her death, her image played an important, and very mixed, part in the process of the legitimation of the woman writer.Less
This book approaches the construction of literary authority and the literary canon during the 18th century through a study of the reception of the work of Aphra Behn. As one of the first professional writers of either sex in England, she participated in the redefinition of the author that attended the new literary market; and as the most prominent woman writer of the Restoration, she had an immense and complex significance for women writers in following generations. The 18th-century construction of Restoration writing in general, and Behn's in particular, as decadent and salacious, had profound effects on the tenor of that influence, and made her legacy to later female writers an uneasy one. Over the hundred years following her death, her image played an important, and very mixed, part in the process of the legitimation of the woman writer.
Jane Spencer
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184942
- eISBN:
- 9780191674402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184942.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 18th-century Literature
This chapter considers three aspects of the making of Aphra Behn's reputation: discussions of her within her lifetime; the growth of Behn biography in the years following her death; and the reception ...
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This chapter considers three aspects of the making of Aphra Behn's reputation: discussions of her within her lifetime; the growth of Behn biography in the years following her death; and the reception of Behn's verse. What unites these different parts of her story is the growth of a myth about Behn, which both drew on received notions of the relationship between a female writer and her work, and set the tone for the reception of later women writers. The myth is that Behn's writing reflects a life pre-eminently concerned with sexual love. The image of Behn which was to become dominant in the 18th century was that of a woman for whom (sexual) pleasure and poetry were intermingled. This view began to emerge in her lifetime, representing the narrowing-down of an originally much wider conception of her as a writer.Less
This chapter considers three aspects of the making of Aphra Behn's reputation: discussions of her within her lifetime; the growth of Behn biography in the years following her death; and the reception of Behn's verse. What unites these different parts of her story is the growth of a myth about Behn, which both drew on received notions of the relationship between a female writer and her work, and set the tone for the reception of later women writers. The myth is that Behn's writing reflects a life pre-eminently concerned with sexual love. The image of Behn which was to become dominant in the 18th century was that of a woman for whom (sexual) pleasure and poetry were intermingled. This view began to emerge in her lifetime, representing the narrowing-down of an originally much wider conception of her as a writer.
Jane Spencer
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184942
- eISBN:
- 9780191674402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184942.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 18th-century Literature
This chapter traces the different trajectories of Aphra Behn's 18th-century life as a dramatist and as a writer of fiction. Behn's fiction remained current in the later 18th century, with editions of ...
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This chapter traces the different trajectories of Aphra Behn's 18th-century life as a dramatist and as a writer of fiction. Behn's fiction remained current in the later 18th century, with editions of Love-Letters between a Nobleman and his Sister being published up to the 1760s and of Oroonoko up until 1800. The decisive shift in Behn's reputation as a novelist came with the novel's rise in status in the middle years of the century. In particular, the moralization of popular fiction, already under way with Penelope Aubin's work in the 1720s and consolidated by Samuel Richardson in the 1740s, led to new and unfavourable assessments of her novels. The chapter argues that the era of stage-reform, far from ruining her dramatic reputation, actually helped Behn to achieve the status of the first woman dramatist to become a long-running success on the London stage.Less
This chapter traces the different trajectories of Aphra Behn's 18th-century life as a dramatist and as a writer of fiction. Behn's fiction remained current in the later 18th century, with editions of Love-Letters between a Nobleman and his Sister being published up to the 1760s and of Oroonoko up until 1800. The decisive shift in Behn's reputation as a novelist came with the novel's rise in status in the middle years of the century. In particular, the moralization of popular fiction, already under way with Penelope Aubin's work in the 1720s and consolidated by Samuel Richardson in the 1740s, led to new and unfavourable assessments of her novels. The chapter argues that the era of stage-reform, far from ruining her dramatic reputation, actually helped Behn to achieve the status of the first woman dramatist to become a long-running success on the London stage.
Jane Spencer
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184942
- eISBN:
- 9780191674402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184942.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 18th-century Literature
This chapter explores the connections between notions of influence, generation, and genealogy in the construction of literary traditions, and asks: what would it mean to be able, by the addition of ...
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This chapter explores the connections between notions of influence, generation, and genealogy in the construction of literary traditions, and asks: what would it mean to be able, by the addition of the odd ‘h’, to talk about the sons of Aphra Behn? Undoubtedly Behn was a source to many 18th-century writers, but in current thinking this does not make her an influence. In this chapter, Harold Bloom explains his own very influential theory of influence. Clearly poetic fatherhood is here conceived as a spiritual relation, quite distinct from the transmission of mere verbal material. The importance of maintaining this matter-spirit distinction is evident in the contempt Bloom expresses for ‘those carrion-eaters of scholarship, the source hunters’, whose project may at first seem to resemble his own, but who show by their obsession with matter, and dead matter at that, that they do not understand the living spirit that passes between poets.Less
This chapter explores the connections between notions of influence, generation, and genealogy in the construction of literary traditions, and asks: what would it mean to be able, by the addition of the odd ‘h’, to talk about the sons of Aphra Behn? Undoubtedly Behn was a source to many 18th-century writers, but in current thinking this does not make her an influence. In this chapter, Harold Bloom explains his own very influential theory of influence. Clearly poetic fatherhood is here conceived as a spiritual relation, quite distinct from the transmission of mere verbal material. The importance of maintaining this matter-spirit distinction is evident in the contempt Bloom expresses for ‘those carrion-eaters of scholarship, the source hunters’, whose project may at first seem to resemble his own, but who show by their obsession with matter, and dead matter at that, that they do not understand the living spirit that passes between poets.
Jane Spencer
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184942
- eISBN:
- 9780191674402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184942.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 18th-century Literature
The evidence of 18th-century women's literary history shows many different ways of responding to Aphra Behn. This chapter has divided consideration of Behn's effect on her female successors into ...
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The evidence of 18th-century women's literary history shows many different ways of responding to Aphra Behn. This chapter has divided consideration of Behn's effect on her female successors into three sections. The first deals with the 1690s, when the recently deceased Astrea is an inescapable point of reference. In the second, the chapter focuses on the relations between Behn and a number of individual writers in the first half of the 18th century, arguing that for Susanna Centlivre and Delarivier Manley, Behn was most significant as a role-model for professional writing, while Jane Barker is influenced in a more complex and troubled way by Behn's work. The third section considers women writers' use of Behn in the later 18th century. Historical distance and an established female writing role allowed for a new detachment in the attitudes of women writers to her, but Hannah Cowley's adaptation from Behn showed that she could still be a significant influence.Less
The evidence of 18th-century women's literary history shows many different ways of responding to Aphra Behn. This chapter has divided consideration of Behn's effect on her female successors into three sections. The first deals with the 1690s, when the recently deceased Astrea is an inescapable point of reference. In the second, the chapter focuses on the relations between Behn and a number of individual writers in the first half of the 18th century, arguing that for Susanna Centlivre and Delarivier Manley, Behn was most significant as a role-model for professional writing, while Jane Barker is influenced in a more complex and troubled way by Behn's work. The third section considers women writers' use of Behn in the later 18th century. Historical distance and an established female writing role allowed for a new detachment in the attitudes of women writers to her, but Hannah Cowley's adaptation from Behn showed that she could still be a significant influence.
Jane Spencer
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184942
- eISBN:
- 9780191674402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184942.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 18th-century Literature
This chapter traces the history of The Rover in 18th-century performance, a history that one can reconstruct patchily but in some detail from a number of sources, including contemporary playbills, ...
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This chapter traces the history of The Rover in 18th-century performance, a history that one can reconstruct patchily but in some detail from a number of sources, including contemporary playbills, comments and criticisms, a promptbook copy of the text, and two altered editions. The Rover flattered the Restoration court with a nostalgic image of its cavalier past. Much of this appeal remained in the 18th century, and was not overshadowed by the changes in the political situation and social mores that curtailed the stage-lives of some of Aphra Behn's other plays. Nevertheless, the play was also successfully performed at the court of William and Mary, and in later times, its royalism could easily shade into a kind of general patriotism perfectly well suited to the years of Whig ascendancy.Less
This chapter traces the history of The Rover in 18th-century performance, a history that one can reconstruct patchily but in some detail from a number of sources, including contemporary playbills, comments and criticisms, a promptbook copy of the text, and two altered editions. The Rover flattered the Restoration court with a nostalgic image of its cavalier past. Much of this appeal remained in the 18th century, and was not overshadowed by the changes in the political situation and social mores that curtailed the stage-lives of some of Aphra Behn's other plays. Nevertheless, the play was also successfully performed at the court of William and Mary, and in later times, its royalism could easily shade into a kind of general patriotism perfectly well suited to the years of Whig ascendancy.
Jane Spencer
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184942
- eISBN:
- 9780191674402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184942.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 18th-century Literature
This chapter traces the metamorphosis of Oroonoko into a vehicle for anti-slavery sentiment, showing how this change coincided with a tendency to play down the significance of Aphra Behn as narrator ...
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This chapter traces the metamorphosis of Oroonoko into a vehicle for anti-slavery sentiment, showing how this change coincided with a tendency to play down the significance of Aphra Behn as narrator and as author. Abolitionists had very little to say about Behn herself, and that little was not favourable; and the complex relationship between the black hero and the white woman who takes it on herself to tell his story was dropped from later versions. Here, the chapter concentrates on the way the tragedy of Oroonoko and Imoinda came to function in the early 18th century as an expression and encouragement of feminine feeling. Composed in the mixed tragicomic form that violated neo-classical standards but was popular in the late 17th century, the play was originally presented as an entertainment to suit all moods.Less
This chapter traces the metamorphosis of Oroonoko into a vehicle for anti-slavery sentiment, showing how this change coincided with a tendency to play down the significance of Aphra Behn as narrator and as author. Abolitionists had very little to say about Behn herself, and that little was not favourable; and the complex relationship between the black hero and the white woman who takes it on herself to tell his story was dropped from later versions. Here, the chapter concentrates on the way the tragedy of Oroonoko and Imoinda came to function in the early 18th century as an expression and encouragement of feminine feeling. Composed in the mixed tragicomic form that violated neo-classical standards but was popular in the late 17th century, the play was originally presented as an entertainment to suit all moods.
Jane Spencer
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184942
- eISBN:
- 9780191674402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184942.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, 18th-century Literature
Aphra Behn was a significant influence on 18th-century literature and theatre. As the author of one of the most popular Restoration comedies, she was influential in British theatre, and as the ...
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Aphra Behn was a significant influence on 18th-century literature and theatre. As the author of one of the most popular Restoration comedies, she was influential in British theatre, and as the originator of the powerful Oroonoko myth, she had a much wider-reaching impact. In part that impact must be attributed to her deliberate emphasis on ‘my Masculine Part the Poet in me’. Taking on a masculine poetic tradition, she achieved her greatest fame with heroes, the comic Willmore and the tragic Oroonoko, rather than with heroines. Her refusal to be confined to feminine subjects or styles was crucial to her achievement. She entered, took part in, and made her distinct contribution to, traditions of writing that had been predominantly masculine; and she influenced the men, as well as the women, who followed her.Less
Aphra Behn was a significant influence on 18th-century literature and theatre. As the author of one of the most popular Restoration comedies, she was influential in British theatre, and as the originator of the powerful Oroonoko myth, she had a much wider-reaching impact. In part that impact must be attributed to her deliberate emphasis on ‘my Masculine Part the Poet in me’. Taking on a masculine poetic tradition, she achieved her greatest fame with heroes, the comic Willmore and the tragic Oroonoko, rather than with heroines. Her refusal to be confined to feminine subjects or styles was crucial to her achievement. She entered, took part in, and made her distinct contribution to, traditions of writing that had been predominantly masculine; and she influenced the men, as well as the women, who followed her.
Derek Hughes
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198119746
- eISBN:
- 9780191671203
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198119746.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
By late 1676, the predominant character of comedy was clearly darkening, as dramatists reacted with various kinds of moral earnestness to George Etherege's morally dispassionate portrayal of ...
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By late 1676, the predominant character of comedy was clearly darkening, as dramatists reacted with various kinds of moral earnestness to George Etherege's morally dispassionate portrayal of Dorimant's sexual Machiavellism. Sex comedy became largely critical of the faithless male, and often very pessimistic in its portrayal of human sexuality. The transformation of drama was soon accentuated by the grave political crisis that began in September 1678, with Titus Oates's first allegations of a popish conspiracy to murder the King and initiate a general rebellion. The crisis produced a drama that was often heavily politicized, though not always in predictable ways, since several leading dramatists changed tack according to the fluctuating fortunes of the Exclusionist cause. The genre chiefly affected was tragedy, but in some of the comic work of Thomas Otway, Aphra Behn, and John Dryden growing concern with painful and unresolvable sexual dilemmas became a means for glancing at more comprehensive dilemmas of order.Less
By late 1676, the predominant character of comedy was clearly darkening, as dramatists reacted with various kinds of moral earnestness to George Etherege's morally dispassionate portrayal of Dorimant's sexual Machiavellism. Sex comedy became largely critical of the faithless male, and often very pessimistic in its portrayal of human sexuality. The transformation of drama was soon accentuated by the grave political crisis that began in September 1678, with Titus Oates's first allegations of a popish conspiracy to murder the King and initiate a general rebellion. The crisis produced a drama that was often heavily politicized, though not always in predictable ways, since several leading dramatists changed tack according to the fluctuating fortunes of the Exclusionist cause. The genre chiefly affected was tragedy, but in some of the comic work of Thomas Otway, Aphra Behn, and John Dryden growing concern with painful and unresolvable sexual dilemmas became a means for glancing at more comprehensive dilemmas of order.
Derek Hughes
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198119746
- eISBN:
- 9780191671203
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198119746.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, Drama, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
In November 1682 the ailing King's Company merged with the more adventurously and expertly managed Duke's, and for the next thirteen years the London stage became a monopoly. The absence of ...
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In November 1682 the ailing King's Company merged with the more adventurously and expertly managed Duke's, and for the next thirteen years the London stage became a monopoly. The absence of commercial rivalry induced an unenterprising reliance upon stock plays, and new plays for a while became scarce and unadventurous. Most comedies, for example, are farcical or lightweight, and in the period up to the end of the 1688 season only four plays (Nathaniel Lee's The Princess of Cleve, Thomas Otway's The Atheist, Aphra Behn's The Lucky Chance, and Charles Sedley's Bellamira) provide a serious and exploratory treatment of human sexuality. The Tory triumph turned hitherto ambivalent dramatists into partisans and thereby assisted the decline of tragedy. With The Duke of Guise and Constantine the Great, John Dryden and Lee make their last, and least distinguished, contributions to Exclusion Crisis drama.Less
In November 1682 the ailing King's Company merged with the more adventurously and expertly managed Duke's, and for the next thirteen years the London stage became a monopoly. The absence of commercial rivalry induced an unenterprising reliance upon stock plays, and new plays for a while became scarce and unadventurous. Most comedies, for example, are farcical or lightweight, and in the period up to the end of the 1688 season only four plays (Nathaniel Lee's The Princess of Cleve, Thomas Otway's The Atheist, Aphra Behn's The Lucky Chance, and Charles Sedley's Bellamira) provide a serious and exploratory treatment of human sexuality. The Tory triumph turned hitherto ambivalent dramatists into partisans and thereby assisted the decline of tragedy. With The Duke of Guise and Constantine the Great, John Dryden and Lee make their last, and least distinguished, contributions to Exclusion Crisis drama.
Ros Ballaster
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184775
- eISBN:
- 9780191674341
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184775.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
This chapter examines the fiction of Delarivier Manley. Delarivier Manley's first major scandal novel The New Atalantis reincarnates the figure of Aphra Behn's fictional and poetic persona, Astrea, ...
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This chapter examines the fiction of Delarivier Manley. Delarivier Manley's first major scandal novel The New Atalantis reincarnates the figure of Aphra Behn's fictional and poetic persona, Astrea, in order to authorize her own position of female satirist. Manley, like Behn, presents her satirical powers both as female and heroic. She also concealed the ‘transgression’ of representing and embodying female political ambition beneath the ‘lesser’ transgression of representing and embodying active female sexual desire. However, unlike Behn, Manley focuses on specific and personal satire in her ‘key’ novels. Manley also seems to have sought political patronage in the shape of financial reward from those Tory politicians she idealized in her novels.Less
This chapter examines the fiction of Delarivier Manley. Delarivier Manley's first major scandal novel The New Atalantis reincarnates the figure of Aphra Behn's fictional and poetic persona, Astrea, in order to authorize her own position of female satirist. Manley, like Behn, presents her satirical powers both as female and heroic. She also concealed the ‘transgression’ of representing and embodying female political ambition beneath the ‘lesser’ transgression of representing and embodying active female sexual desire. However, unlike Behn, Manley focuses on specific and personal satire in her ‘key’ novels. Manley also seems to have sought political patronage in the shape of financial reward from those Tory politicians she idealized in her novels.
Ros Ballaster
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184775
- eISBN:
- 9780191674341
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184775.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
This chapter presents a brief account of the critical fate of the prose fiction of Behn, Manley, and Haywood in the mid- to late 18th century. These early amatory fictions were persistently ‘written ...
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This chapter presents a brief account of the critical fate of the prose fiction of Behn, Manley, and Haywood in the mid- to late 18th century. These early amatory fictions were persistently ‘written out’ of the novel tradition in this period in an attempt to make it respectable. The novel, identified at every stage as a ‘female form’, was, in this period, refined by purging it of its disreputable associations with female sexuality and the subversive power of female ‘wit’, or artifice. Women writers would gain status and more in the newly respectable form of the novel by denying any association with the infamous Behn, Manley, and Haywood.Less
This chapter presents a brief account of the critical fate of the prose fiction of Behn, Manley, and Haywood in the mid- to late 18th century. These early amatory fictions were persistently ‘written out’ of the novel tradition in this period in an attempt to make it respectable. The novel, identified at every stage as a ‘female form’, was, in this period, refined by purging it of its disreputable associations with female sexuality and the subversive power of female ‘wit’, or artifice. Women writers would gain status and more in the newly respectable form of the novel by denying any association with the infamous Behn, Manley, and Haywood.
