Aphra Behn

The editor supplies explanatory annotations and textual notes. Historical Backgrounds is an especially rich collection of seventeenth-and eighteenth-century documents about colonisers and slaves in the new world. Topically arranged—"Montaigne on America," "The Settling of Surinam," "Observers of Slavery, 1654–1712," "After Oroonoko: Noble Africans in Europe," and "Opinions on Slavery"—these selections create a revealing context for Behn's unusual story. Illustrations and...

This anthology of four plays written or performed between 1662 and 1677 offers a unique snapshot of the diverse nature of Restoration drama by women. Restoration Women's Drama collects four Restoration plays by women: the highly acclaimed Katherine Philips, the successful professional Aphra Behn, the confidently original Margaret Cavendish, and the obscure pioneer Frances Boothby. This anthology includes Behn's only...

Carnival time in The Rover is a period when prohibitions are temporarily removed, privileges and rank suspended, and women—from convent girls to courtesans—take the initiative. Featuring multiple plot lines, which deal with the adventures of a group of love-struck Englishmen in Naples, Aphra Behn's play explores issues of love, trickery and deception, forced marriage, male power, fidelity, and the excesses...