Known as the world's first professional female writer: Who is Aphra Behn?
She started writing to earn a living when she was imprisoned for debts, unable to get paid for her work.
(1640-1689) English playwright, novelist, and poet. She is known as the first professional female writer. There is no definite information about the first years of her life. According to her own writings, she went with some of her relatives to Dutch Guiana (today Suriname), which was then under British rule, and lived there for many years.
She returned to England in 1658. She married a wealthy Dutch merchant named Behn in 1665, but her husband died soon after. Aphra Behn, with her wit, talent, and wit, caught the attention of King Charles II and was sent to the Netherlands as a spy for the British government. She started writing to earn a living when she was imprisoned for debts, unable to get paid for her work. She died in London on April 16, 1689.
Due to the difficulties of being a woman and her insistence on publishing her plays under her own name, her first play, The Forced Marriage, which was staged in 1670, was published only three years later. The Dutch Lover, staged in 1673, reflects the first transition to the comedy and Persian genre, which will gradually gain weight in Behn's plays. Her best-known play, The Rover, is a humorous and witty comedy that criticizes marriages made to gain respect in society. Her last play, The Emperor of the Moon, performed in 1687, is in three acts and is one of the first English plays to break out of the traditional five-act play structure.
Although Behn gained great fame as a playwright during the Restoration, she is best known today for her novels, notably Oroonoko or the Royal Slave. This work can be considered the first novel to oppose colonialism in terms of handling the exploitation of indigenous people in a humane manner.
Behn's plays, which deal with the life of the high society of her time and develop in the structure of a traditional comedy of intrigue, reflect the artistic taste of the Restoration period with their obscene style. These racy comedies were compared by critics to the plays of the famous playwright William Wycherley of the same period, leading to Behn's reputation as the "female Wycherley".
WORKS (mainly):
Game:
The Forced Marriage, 1670,
The Amorous Prince, 1671,
The Dutch Lover, 1673,
The Rover, 1677,
The Emperor of the Moon, 1687.
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Aphra Behn: Campaigners call for statue of female playwright
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-60114931